Cyberpunk 2020 - [corpbook Iii] Petrochem And Sovoil

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH for the corporations, they'll know more about their employer's history and motivations. Finally, the descriptions will add depth and realism to any scenarios in which those corporations appear. You'll know what products arc made by whom, who's likely to be responsible for what plots, and what the hallmarks of each corporation are, right down to the ads that characters will see on television. IMPROVEMENTS

INTRODUCTION: WHO FEEDS THE MACHINES? In a world sucked dry of resources by earlier generations, Man is still unable to slake his growing thirst for energy and raw materials. As the years go by, his machines spread over more and more of the Earth's surface. All that machinery cries out (and competes) for power to run its motors, oils to cool its innards, plastics to protect its surface, and raw materials to shape into new machines and other products. People want their cars, corporations want their factories, governments want their weapons, and all want the fuels and materials to keep these devices running without interruption. So who feeds the machines in a world of scarcity? Petrochem and SovOil, two of 2020's mightiest corporations, and two of Cyberpunk's greatest rivals. CORPBOOKS

Corpbook Three is the third book in a series dedicated to bringing you information and source material on the most powerful, influential and cutting-edge corporations in the world of Cyberpunk. Each book has complete breakdowns on two corporations, including both new organizations and ones which you may recognize from Cyberpunk 2020. The corporations in each book are related in some way. They produce similar products, are rivals, are similar in scope, or any combination of the above. The material in the Corpbooks enables you to add a whole new dimension to your Cyberpunk game.

Villains can have more depth, heroes can know exactly who they arc working for (or against), and you have a ready-made framework for intrigue and adventure.

If you have read or seen the first two Corpbooks, you may notice some differences in this volume. For the first time we are including information for use in netrunning adventures, such as descriptions of company computer systems and typical data fortresses. The adventures have also been expanded, making them more challenging and involving. Finally, the article on the Second Corporate War will serve to explain the conflict between the two companies and provide one more element of source material to flesh out your adventures or characters.

WHAT'S IN THE CORPBOOKS?

NOTES

Corpbooks are designed to allow to you easily find the exact information that you need. Each corporation write-up is composed of eight source sections: History; Main Products and Intent; Key People; Current Market Strategy; Uniforms, Equipment and Personnel; Offices and Key Facilities; Computer Systems and Data Fortresses; Resources, Subsidiaries and Stock. The source sections are broken into sub-headings for quick reference. Each write-up also includes a short adventure. As an extra bonus, this book also has a separate article detailing the history of the Second Corporate War, which involved both Petrochem and SovOil.

Players: This book is designed for both players and referees, but players may want to check with their referees before reading the contents cover to cover. There may be some information in here that your referee would like you to discover in the course of an adventure. Referees: The information in Corpbooks is for use in your adventures, so feel free to customize the material however you wish in order to conform to your own Cyberpunk vision, or to your campaign's power level. Nothing is written in stone, and we encourage you to shape the material to your needs. When skill checks are cited in the adventures, the symbol > means equal to or greater than...

USING CORPBOOKS

The source material in Corpbook serves three purposes. First, it provides you with basic information that will enable you to easily set up adventures involving the corporations. Stats and equipment for company soldiers and guards, maps of company facilities, typical data fortresses, and descriptions of the movers and shakers in each corporation are examples of the kind of information you'll have at your fingertips. Second, the book describes the public and secret agendas and motivations of each corporation, providing you with ample material for creating scenarios and character backgrounds. If your characters are confronting the corporations, you'll have more to work with. If they are working

2

General: Because of the universality of some equipment and vehicles in Cyberpunk, there are cross references to Corpbooks On; and Two, as well as to Chromebook and the Night City Sourcebook. We understand that our players may not own all of our books, but these cross-references avoid recapping material already published and allow us to include more new information. You're all set now, so get ready for one more spin through the malevolent world of Cyberpunk corporations—your deadliest yet!

William Moss

CORPORATE REPORT 2020

THE SECOND CORPORATE WAR: PETROCHEM AND SOVOIL IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA 4 BACKS ROUND 4 CORPORATE MILITARY FORCES 5 PETROCHEM AND SovOil 5 EARLY RUMBLINGS 5 THE DJAKARTA CONFERENCE 5 THE DESTRUCTION OF SABINA BRAVO 5 RETALIATION 6 A NEW PRECEDENT 6 OPEN WARFARE 7 THE WAR SPREADS TO NATIONS 7 THE CONFLICT DRAGS ON 7 SUCCESSES FDR PETROCHEM 8 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 9 AFTER THE WAR 9 OTHER CORPORATIONS 9 FALLOUT 9 PETROCHEM AND SOVOIL TODAY 9 PETROCHEMICAL. ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL. 10 HISTORY

12

MAIN PRODUCTS AND INTENT

14

CHOOH2

14

FARMS AND REFINERIES

15

CHOOH2 TECHNOLOGY OIL PETROCHEMICALS OIL TECHNOLOGY GENERAL CHEMISTRY THE XOMA CORPORATION

16 16 17 17 17 17

WEAPONS

18

ADVANCED MATERIALS FOOD RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OTHER ALTERNATE FUELS PETROCHEM's PLANS ENEMIES AND ALLIES KEY PEOPLE CURRENT MARKETING STRATEGY AND PUBLIC RELATIONS CHOOH2 PUBLIC RELATIONS LOBBYING

18 18 18 19 19 20 20 26 26 26 26

GENERAL PRODUCTS XOMA PHARMACEUTICALS

26 26

UNIFORMS. EQUIPMENT AND PERSONNEL PETROCHEM EXECUTIVES GUARDS XOMA GUARDS PETROCHEM'S MILITARY FORCES SOLDIERS NAVAL PERSONNEL THE WATER LEOPARDS VEHICLES, EQUIPMENT AND WEAPONS

27 27 27 28 28 28 29 29 30

KEY OFFICES AND FACILITIES

33

THE PETROCHEM HEADQUARTERS TOWERS ARCHITECTURE AND LAYOUT INTERIORS AND FACILITIES PERSONNEL SECURITY REGIONAL OFFICES XOMA PHARMACEUTICALS THE SUBMERGED DRILLING PROJECT SDPR SUPPORT SHIPS FARMS REFINERIES CHOOH4U

33 34 34 34 34 34 36 36 37 37 37 38

COMPANY COMPUTER SYSTEM

39

RESOURCES, STOCK AND SUBSIDIARIES

4O

VALUE OF THE CORPORATION STOCK RESOURCES: MANPOWER RESOURCES: HARDWARE RESOURCES: BLACK SUBSIDIARIES SCANDAL

A PETROCHEM ADVENTURE

40 40 41 41 41 41 41

HISTORY

48

WRITTEN BY William Moss ART DIRECTOR Matthew Anacleto

53

OIL

53

OIL DERIVATIVES GENERAL OIL TECHNOLOGY STANDARD OIL FIELDS OFFSHORE OIL ENGINEERING OFFSHORE SUPPORT SERVICES OIL TRANSPORT REFINING COMMERCIAL NATURAL GAS

53 53 53 54 54 55 55 56

MINING

56

INDUSTRIAL TROUBLESHOOTING CHOOH2 RETAILING FUELS HEAVY INDUSTRY POWER GEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION MILITARY SovOil's FUTURE DOMESTIC PROBLEMS KEY PEOPLE CURRENT MARKET STRATEGY OIL AND OIL PRODUCTS GENERAL CONSUMER PRODUCTS HEAVY INDUSTRY CHOOH2 PUBLIC RELATIONS AND LOBBYING UNIFORMS, EQUIPMENT AND PERSONNEL SOVOIL EXECUTIVES SECURITY FORCES THE INFANTRY THE NAVY SECRET POLICE TROUBLESHOOTERS VEHICLES, EQUIPMENT, AND WEAPONS KEY OFFICES AND FACILITIES SOVOIL HEADQUARTERS ARCHITECTURE AND LAYOUT INTERIORS AND FACILITIES PERSONNEL SECURITY SECURITY FORCES AND SECRET POLICE HEADQUARTERS REGIONAL OFFICES SPECIAL FACILITIES REFINERIES OFFSHORE OIL PLATFORMS FLOTELS MSVS TERRESTRIAL OIL FIELDS SECURITY FORCE BASES COMPANY COMPUTER SYSTEM RESOURCES AND STOCK CORPORATE VALUE IN 2020 VALUE OF THE CORPORATION

56 57 57 58 58 58 58 59 59 60 60 66 67 67 67 67 67 67 68 69 69 70 70 71 74 74 74 74 75 75 75 76 76 76 77 77 78 78 78 79 80 80 80

STOCK

80

RESOURCES: MANPOWER RESOURCES: HARDWARE SUBSIDIARIES MONKEY IN THE MIDDLE: A SOVOIL/PETROCHEM ADVENTURE

81 81 81

3

William Moss

41

SOVIET WORLD OIL INDUSTRIES

MAIN PRODUCTS AND INTENT

EDITORS Derek Quintanar

LAYOUT Matthew Anacleto COVER ILLUSTRATIONS Scott Ruggles B.J. West Scott Steinmann Darrell Midgette Bob Giadrosich Matthew Anacleto

PETROCHEM a SOVOIL LOGOS BY Mike Pondsmith Scott Ruggles

Our Special thanks to the helpful staff of the world's greatest financial analysts: Merrill, Asukaga & Finch. Their hours of meticulous work allow us to present such a level of exacting detail.

Copyright® 1992 R. Talsorian Games All Rights Reserved. Cyberpunk0 is R. Talsorian's trademark name for its adventure game of the dark future. Corporation Report 2020; Merrill, Asukaga & Finch; Petrochem and SovOil are trademarks of R. Talsorian Games Inc. All Rights Reserved. All incidents, situations, and persons portrayed within are fictional, and any similarity, without satiric intent, of characters living or dead is strictly coincidental.

82

Matthew Anacleto

MERRILL ASUKAGA AND FINCH SPECIAL EXECUTIVE REPORT

S P E C I A L E X E C U T I V E REPORT THE SECOND CORPORATE WAR:

PETROCHEM AND SOVOIL IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

The SovOil Fleet sorties from Vladivostok BACKGROUND

These days, the use of m i l i t a r y and paramilitary force by corporations is taken for granted. It's part and parcel of commercial survival in the unstable and dangerous twenty-first century. Prior to 1996, however, armed corporations were almost unthinkable, and companies trusted in local law enforcement and military agencies to protect their assets. The events of the turbulent years from 1994 to 1998 changed all that. The plunge of the world stock market in 1994, and the subsequent international unrest, United States collapse, Middle East disintegration, and worldwide destabilization made it necessary for corporations to accept full responsibility for the protection and security of their assets. National armies and police organizations could no longer be trusted or relied on. Some corporations were stockpiling arms and training soldiers and special operations agents by the end of!995.

It didn't take long for the newly armed corporations to begin flexing their military and paramilitary muscle. With government regulation becoming negligible, the emerging megacorps grappled for scarce resources, information, and market areas. The years from 1995 to 2000 were rife with brushfire warfare as several corporations jockeyed for position and power. Eventually, a new international hierarchy was established, with military potency as important a criterion as commercial success. After the turn of the century, there was a drop in the number of corporate military incidents, as a relatively stable pecking order was established. Several corporations had perished, or been swallowed by the competition. The remaining corporations were survivors; organizations with resources and leadership that were competitive in the turbulent twenty-first century. The names ring familiar: Arasaka, IEC, EBM, Petrochem, SovOil, Orbital 4

Air, Net 54... New companies that relied on corporate military markets had been created. Among them: Militech, The Lazarus Group, and Sternmeyer. Although the number of corporate military incidents declined after the year 2000, the size of these incidents certainly did not. The first warning of the scope that intercorporate confrontations could achieve came in 2004, when EBM and Orbital Air went to war over control of the floundering Transworld Air. This incident was a typical corporate war in that it was fought largely in the boardroom and world financial infrastructure, with sporadic, quick military engagements over certain key sites. It was atypical however, in that it lasted for a year and a half, three times longer than any previous corporate confrontation. It became known as the First Corporate War. Many people thought that the First Corporate War was as bad as a corporate confrontation could get. They were wrong...

THE SECOND CORPORATE WAR: PETROCHEM AND SOVOIL IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

CORPORATE MILITARY FORCES

Corporate forces are designed to fulfill a different mission than national armed forces. Corporations generally need to protect information and facilities, not territory. When they launch a military operation, it's usually a lighting strike designed either to cripple some element of an enemy corporation, or to seize some valuable resource or piece of information. Often, these raids are carried out covertly, with secret troops operating under cover of darkness. Seldom does the public find out, seldom does an incident last longer than a few hours, or days at most. To fight longer is to invite national intervention and unfavorable PR. Wholesale destruction is inefficient. Small, light, autonomous, quickresponse units are the order of the day. Speed is of the essence. Ninety percent of most corporate wars are fought in the boardroom, on the world's financial and stock markets, and in the net. Only a tiny fraction takes place on the battlefield. There are exceptions, however. On a few occasions, when the stakes have been very high, competing corporations have dug in their heels, called in their troops, and gone head to head for long periods of time. The most infamous confrontation of this nature was the three year war between SovOil and Petrochem over the priceless oil fields in the South China Sea. This conflagration has gone into the history books as the Second Corporate War. It will be long remembered by anyone who was with either corporation at the time, and by everyone living in the nations bordering that tropical sea. PETROCHEM AND SOVOIL. Petrochem and SovOil have long had an acrimonious relationship. The two corporations produce the majority of the world's CHOOH2, and are the only viable producers of raw petroleum products remaining. They have competed fiercely for markets and resources over die last fifteen years. In 2005, relations between the two corporations were the best they had ever been, before or since. SovOil was producing CHOOH2 in an experimental capacity

only, and the corporations had not yet come to grips over international resources. A deal was in the works that, at the time, seemed like a godsend for both companies. SovOil had huge Siberian oil fields that had not been tapped because the Soviet corporation had been unable to develop the necessary technology. Petrochem had offered to supply the technology in return for partial pumping rights in the region. Both corporations stood to benefit, and there was much talk of forging the penultimate corporate alliance; a commercial Camelot. At the last hour, however, the deal collapsed. SovOil engineers announced the success of new, in-house developments that would enable the Soviet corporation to recover the Siberian oil without Petrochem's assistance. The deal was cancelled, and millions of Eurobucks and man-hours were lost. Relationships and communication between the two corporations evaporated, and a chilly silence settled in. EARLY RUMBLINGS Things might have gotten no worse, except for the discovery of previously unknown, potentially gigantic, oil fields in the international waters of the South China Sea. Geological surveys by SovOil and Petrochem yielded similar results at the same time, and both corporations, along with several smaller competitors, began exploration and experimental drilling in the region. Tensions in the South China basin began to increase. The situation became critical within a few months after the two corporations began competing in the region. The major field was located in the Spratly Islands, an archipelago claimed by China, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Claims notwithstanding, no national government was in a position to enforce leases or restrictions on the oil parcels in the shallow seas around the islands. With no nation arbitrating, the race to stake claims in the area turned into a free-for-all. Immediately, each corporation accused the other of encroachment and sabotage

5

In anticipation of hostilities, both corporations began sending arms and troops to the area. In a matter of weeks, the Spratly Archipelago was transformed from a beautiful tropical ocean into the scene of a tense military standoff. Regional governments, including Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, China, and Indonesia, recognized that the trade, shipping and environment of their area was threatened, and they pleaded with the two corporations to negotiate a truce. THE DJAKARTA CONFERENCE

In November 2007, leaders from both corporations convened in Djakarta, Indonesia, along with high-ranking delegates from the surrounding nations. The Djakarta Conference was intended to allow the two corporations to peacefully parcel the area, and avoid armed conflict. It was the first and last time that Petrochem and SovOil ever met at the international negotiating table. When the week—long conference was over, a tentative agreement had been reached. SovOil was to explore the northern half of the Spratly field, and Petrochem the southern half. The line of demarcation was the tenth parallel. Both corporations signed the agreement, which was also a nonagression pact. The paper was witnessed by the leaders of the surrounding nations, all of whom were eager to reap die trade benefits of peaceful exploration. The Djakarta Agreement was a major coup, coming so soon after the collapse of the Siberian oil deal. Although relationships between the two corporations were not healed, the prospects for peace looked good. THE DESTRUCTION OF SABINA BRAVO

For a short while, it seemed that everything was going to work out well. But in March 2008, only four months after the signing of the Djakarta Agreement, came the event that was ultimately blamed for touching off the war. On Tuesday, March 18, 2008, at 2:34 AM, Petrochem offshore oil platform Sabina Bravo exploded into flames, killing all 173 personnel on board and completely destroying 22 well

MERRILL ASUKAGA AND FINCH SPECIAL EXECUTIVE REPORT

heads. A three-hundred meter geyser of flame shot into the air. The glow was visible from Palawan Island in the Philippines, 240 kilometers away. Underwater, crude oil began to spill from ruptured pipelines into the still pristine waters of the Spratly Archipelago. Only quick action prevented the fire from spreading to the three other Sabina platforms, Alpha, Charlie, and Delta.

managed to cap the severed wellheads.

A GEYSER OF FLAME SHOT INTO

THE A I R . THE GLOW WAS VISIBLE FROM THE

Even before the fire was extinguished, tensions began to increase again. The Sabina sub-field was only a few short kilometers south of the tenth parallel, and the Sabina Oil Reservoir extended across the parallel, into SovOil territory. Although on opposite sides of the demarcation, both Petrochem's Sabina Platforms and SovOil's Namyit Platforms pumped oil from the Sabina Reservoir. At the Djakarta conference, each corporation had argued for sole control of the Sabina Reservoir, and it had been a sticking point in the negotiations when it was announced that the tenth parallel rule would hold, and the corporations would have joint access. Because of the competition for the oil in the Sabina Reservoir, Petrochem immediately accused SovOil of sabotaging Sabina Bravo with an underwater explosive device. SovOil denied all allegations, and, in turn, accused Petrochem of trying to blame them for their own technical and safety failings. Petrochem suggested that, if SovOil was in good faith, it would have sent their Namyit MSV platform (Mobile Support Vehicle, see SovOil Key Offices and Facilities) to aid Petrochem's Sabina MSV in the firefighting. SovOil rebutted by claiming that it needed to retain the Namyit MSV in case of an emergency at their field, especially in light of possible unjustified retaliation from Petrochem. SovOil diplomats also claimed that Petrochem might have used the presence of a SovOil vessel below the tenth parallel as the grounds for a charge of sabotage, even if the vessel was an MSV. Petrochem responded to this outrageous

PHILIPPINES, 24O KILOMETERS AWAY.

excuse by severing all diplomatic relations with SovOil. On the heels of the stress caused by the Siberian oil deal collapse, this move opened the doors for disaster. In the space of 100 hours, relationships between the two corporations had gone from recovering to critical. The South China Sea was about to become a crucible.

Petrochem's tactical success was overshadowed by the disaster that followed. The minisub carrying Petrochem's troops was detected, depth charged, and critically damaged by a SovOil sonar net patrol boat while running for the tenth parallel. The sub was captured intact, and, although the soldiers committed suicide before they could be questioned, SovOil investigators discovered enough evidence to prove that the sub was responsible for the destruction of Thitu One, and substantiate their suspicion that Petrochem was responsible. ANEW PRECEDENT SovOil was not going to stand for proven sabotage. Anatoly Novikovo gave new SovOil military commander Lupold Korepino the green light to draw up a plan for a retaliatory strike to be carried out openly, under SovOil colors. Korepino flew secretly to the Philippines to meet with SovOil's South China Sea military commander Admiral Ivan Ostrov. A strike was arranged for the early morning hours of April 8th.

RETALIATION

It was Petrochem that was ultimately responsible for the first known military action of the war. Unable to believe that the Sabina disaster was an accident (which, ironically, it later proved to be), Petrochem dispatched a naval black operations team to sabotage one of SovOil's Spratly platforms. Petrochem elected not to attack a Namyit Platform, as that would be too obvious. Instead, Thitu One, 120 km north of the tenth parallel, was targeted. On April 1st, 2008, operating from a long-range minisub, Petrochem divers planted special explosives at the base of two of Thitu One's three concrete legs. Two hours later, the explosives went off, and Thitu tipped into the ocean. 113 of 144 personnel were killed. There was no fire, but hundreds of millions of liters of crude oil discharged into the sea before troubleshooters on the Thitu MSV 6

Anticipating SovOil's retaliation, leaders of the nations that had participated in the Djakarta Conference pleaded with the corporation to use diplomacy. When it became clear that the crisis was beyond diplomacy, they threatened to oust the corporations from the region if they went to war. SovOil made soothing noises to the leaders of the surrounding nations, but it was only a coverup. The attack went ahead as scheduled. By attacking despite the threats of the Djakarta Conference nations, SovOil set a new world precedent by being the first corporation to openly defy a national government (or several national governments). There was no subtlety, no hidden crime; SovOil simply thumbed its nose at the Djakarta Conference governments and defied them to interfere with company business. Corporations around the world watched eagerly to see what the

THE SECOND CORPORATE WAR: PETROCHEM AND SOVOIL IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

outcome would be. In the end, the nations were powerless to enforce their will upon SovOil or Petrochem. It was a major paradigm shift; conventional beliefs of who wielded power in die world no longer applied.

WITHIN A FEW WEEKS, 75%

OF BOTH

CORPORATION'S PUMPING AND

REFINING OPEN WARFARE

At 4:42 AM, on April 8th, 2008, the Second Corporate war was officially begun as SovOil aircraft struck simultaneously at several Petrochem platforms and pipelines. Petrochem had been expecting an attack, and had beefed up its own military and early-warning capabilities. Nevertheless, SovOil's strike was effective, and Petrochem's local operations were crippled. It didn't take long for Petrochem to respond in kind, and within hours, Petrochem military commander Admiral Casey Sawyer (USN, Ret.) had authorized and drawn up a retaliatory strike. The war was joined in full. It would be a long time before there would be peace in the South China Sea again. The early weeks of the war were the fiercest. Both corporations were at the peak of their military power, with fresh troops and full complements of equipment and supplies. Also, the opening weeks were the only rime that both corporations had a great number of clear hardware targets to strike at. The corporations were trying not so much to seize control of territory, but to destroy the other's expensive equipment and bases. Platforms, Hotels, MSVs, pipelines, terminals, and refineries were destroyed; reduced to blazing pyres by missiles, smartbombs, torpedoes, and sabotage. Within a few weeks, 75% of both corporation's South China Basin oil pumping and refining capabilities had been destroyed. Offshore fires raged unchecked as oil spouted from the remains of platforms, and overworked troubleshooting teams scrambled from site to site. Even after the fires were extinguished, billions of liters of crude oil spilled into the waters of the South China Seas. Coastal areas of the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore, were irreparably fouled. Much of the once-beau-

CAPABILITIES HAD BEEN DESTROYED. OFFSHORE FIRES RAGED UNCHECKED, AND OVERWORKED TROUBLESHOOTERS SCRAMBLED FROM SITE TO SITE.

tiful sea was reduced to a toxic, lifeless, marine desert. THE WAR SPREADS TO NATIONS

Early in the conflict, Djakarta Conference participants scrambled frantically to arrange a cease fire. Soon, however, the war began to have direct repercussions on the nations, and sentiments changed from trying to negotiate a peaceful settlement to exacting retribution for corporate attacks on land-based refineries and terminals, and for the death of the regional fishing and aquaculture industries and the destruction of thousands miles of shoreline. It was impossible for the Djakarta Conference nations to form a consensus on how to act, and international tensions began to spiral as involved nations began to accuse each other of allowing the debacle to snowball. The international tensions crystallized into disaster when the Malaysian government announced that it was going to abandon a unified front and support Petrochem, which was basing all of its South China Basin operations on the eastern Malaysian province of Sarawak. The Philippines and Vietnam first accused Malaysia of selling out the region to Corporate interests, and then, in a 180° swing, announced that they were going to support SovOil, which was basing its opera7

tions on their soil. Indonesia and China, frustrated at the turn of events, officially renounced the Djakarta Conference. Although Vietnam managed to stay out of direct conflict, Malaysia and the Philippines immediately began arming their adjacent regions bordering the Sulu Sea and the Spratly Archipelago. Although all-out war between the two countries was avoided, there were several incidents between their naval and air forces along the border between their national waters, and over the strategically important Balabac Straights and Sibutu Passage. Insurgent groups in both nations used the conflict as an excuse and an opportunity to increase their activity. This was a period of intense anxiety for the governments of many Pacific Rim powers. Both the United States and Japanese governments worried that an escalation of the conflict could involve China, the major regional power, and lead to the outbreak of a conflagration the likes of which had not been seen in the area since the closing years of World War Two. Such a war could ultimately involve the armies of the United States, Japan, and Korea, and fundamentally alter the balance of power in the Pacific Rim. Fortunately, the fears of the analysts were quelled when China proved to be both too geographically removed and too preoccupied with internal turmoil to become a major player in the war between SovOil and Petrochem. THE CONFLICT DRAGS ON

Within a few weeks of the beginning of the war, after most of the physical damage had been done, the fighting changed from deep strikes aimed at facilities to a struggle for physical control of the Spratly Archipelago. The war bogged down as SovOil and Petrochem troops fought from island to island, and across the sea and sky to advance their areas of control. Behind the front, other teams worked tirelessly to repair the damage

MERRILL ASUKAGA AND FINCH SPECIAL EXECUTIVE REPORT

Destruction of a SovOil rig, Spratly Is., May 2008 caused by the initial strikes and stem the flow of oil into the sea. But as fast as facilities could be repaired, they were knocked out again. Within a year, it became clear that Petrochem was struggling. SovOil had the support of two South China Basin governments, while Petrochem had the backing of only one. The shipping distance between the South China Sea and the Soviet Union was half the distance to the United States. SovOil had armed forces more than twice the size of Petrochem's. Although neither corporation could commit all of its forces to the South China Basin, SovOil fielded almost 50% more troops and equipment in the region, and rotated in fresh troops more often. Also, SovOil's leadership was unified behind this war effort, while Petrochem's was divided. Petrochem's sole advantages were the quality of the weapons and equipment it fielded, and the relatively short tenure of SovOil commander in chief Lupold Korepino. With almost all the factors in its favor,

SovOil began an inexorable push southward. Month after month, Petrochem forces gave up control of islands and waterways essential to the security of the Spratly Archipelago. If not for the stubborn tenacity of Ellen Trieste, Petrochem's majority shareholder and prime board power, the corporation would have conceded. Under orders from above, Casey Sawyer struggled on in his lost cause. SUCCESSES FOR PETROCHEM In 2009, after a year and a half of fighting, Petrochem had a string of unexpected successes. It started when an attack planned by Sawyer caught SovOil at the wrong time, allowing Petrochem naval forces to seize a chain of islands along die eastern side of the Spratly Archipelago. This enabled Petrochem to drive a critical wedge between SovOil's forces in the Spratly islands, and their supply depots on Palawan. This was followed by surgical air strikes against key SovOil bases in southern Vietnam. Encouraged by their successes, Petrochem leaders began talking about turning around the course of the war. 8

The greatest boost to the morale of Petrochem's troops and leadership came in October 2009. Spies learned of a secret inspection visit planned by SovOil founder and leader Anatoly Novikovo. Recognizing a key opportunity, Casey Sawyer planned an air sortie to intercept Novikovo's tiltrotor flight from Nha Trang to SovOil's offshore command post on Flat Island. On October 15, at 3:21 in the afternoon, a flight of Petrochem interceptors engaged the fighter CAP protecting Novikovo's ferry aircraft. Ten minutes later, Novikovo's Su-44l tiltrotor transport plunged into the ocean, shot down by a missile fired from a Mirage fighter on loan to Petrochem from the Malaysian government. There were no survivors. SovOil was able to keep Novikovo's death secret for only 24 hours. After that, the denials of Petrochem's claims could no longer be substantiated. SovOil was rocked to the core. The secret police conducted an immediate purge to try and root out the individual who had given away Novikovo's plans. SovOil top leadership was thrown into turmoil as die Emergency Committee was left temporarily leaderless.

THE SECOND CORPORATE WAR: PETROCHEM AND SOVOIL IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

Casey Sawyer attempted to capitalize on SovOil's temporary disarray, and ordered massive attacks all along the Spratly front, and on several key Philippine and Vietnamese bases. Unfortunately, Sawyer did not reckon with the prodigious skill and dedication of SovOil's commander, Lupold Korepino. Korepino had predicted the time and location of Sawyer's strikes, and SovOil forces, still very much under command and control, were ready and waiting. Most of the strikes were failures. THE CLOSE OF THE WAR After the failure of Casey Sawyer's masterstroke, Petrochem would never again have a chance to win die war. In the wake of die attack, Korepino marshalled his forces, and began the nine-month southward advance that would end only when Petrochem forces conceded defeat, and evacuated the South China Basin in an historic four day airlift from Bintulu airport on Sarawak. There was never any formal surrender; Petrochems leaders finally realized that they were only damaging die corporation's prospects for survival by trying to continue the fight. SovOil had seized control of all of the oil resources in the South China Sea. It has remained in control ever since. AFTER THE WAR Petrochem spent two years recovering from the war. Stock prices and cash reserves had bottomed out, and die company's military resources were severely depleted. A major program of rebuilding began. There were cries for the heads of those who had lead the company into die unprofitable war, but in die end, the only upper-level casualty was Admiral Sawyer. Despondent over losing the war, Sawyer resigned from Petrochem, and shortly thereafter, committed suicide. Marshall R. Shepard was named as his replacement. These days, die company shows few illeffects. The relationship between SovOil and Petrochem is volatile as always, but die company has recovered economically and politically, and is still one of die major corporate powers of the twenty-first century.

SovOil was also suffering after the war, having lost a great deal of manpower and equipment, while sinking billions of dollars into the effort. But, unlike Petrochem, SovOil was now in sole control of a huge oil resource. Not only was the Spratly Field still productive, but more fields were discovered at Panjang and other regions of the South China Basin. SovOil also set about mending fences with the government of Malaysia, which had supported Petrochem. In a masterstroke of diplomacy, SovOil negotiators hammered out an agreement with the government of Malaysia officially reestablishing a commercial relationship, and giving the corporation the right to lease land for refineries and other facilities. It wasn't long before SovOil was actively pumping record quantities of oil from the South China seas, and company stock and fortunes were on the way up again. Lupold Korepino was named a Hero of the Corporation for his role in the victory, and Anatoly Novikovo was enshrined as patriarch of the company. SovOil now has a submarine tanker, an offshore subfield, and several buildings named after its founder. OTHER CORPORATIONS Other, smaller corporations had been active in oil exploration in the South China basin before die war. Unfortunately, none of those companies' platforms survived die war. With its victory, SovOil ensured that it was the sole oil power in die region, large or small. Some of those small corporations still bear grudges against SovOil and Petrochem, but few are in a position to do anything about it. FALLOUT The war is over, but the effects remain. Although it was not as all-consuming or destructive as an international conflict, the damage was almost immeasurable. Even now, ten years after the war, the South China Sea is one of die most polluted bodies of water on Earth. No one knows how much petroleum flooded into die sea, but it remains visible on die floor of the shal-

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low waters of die Spratly Archipelago, and on the beaches of Vietnam, Malaysia, and especially the Philippines. SovOil made half-hearted attempts at a postwar cleanup, but after several months eventually abandoned all efforts as futile. As part of its post-war lease agreements with die stricken countries, SovOil payed reparations for the fishing villages, industries, and tourist trade wiped out by the war. Reparation payments expired in 2015. The Philippine government was overturned three times in quick succession after the war. The final government was very sympathetic to SovOil, and many analysts believe that they covertly aided the coup responsible for its rise to power. Relations between Malaysia and the Philippines have been normalized, and SovOil is also rumored to have had a hand in that. Most of the nations that once participated in the Djakarta Agreement now benefit economically from SovOil's presence in die region, and give die corporation their support. There are radical groups and terrorist organizations through out the region, however, and they are a constant source of irritation to the corporation and its national allies. PETROCHEM AND SOVOIL TODAY Tensions are still high between the two corporations, and once again they arc both exploring the same region for oil. No one knows whether competition for Antarctic oil resources will lead to the same sort of confrontation and warfare as in the South China Sea. Some people believe that the two corporations have learned their lesson. Others believe that a rematch is inevitable. SovOil is confident in its ability to repeat its victory, but Petrochem leaders have sworn that they will never allow themselves to be defeated again. Both SovOil and Petrochem are now allied with other powerful corporations. One thing is certain: if war does erupt again, it will be on a scale that dwarfs the South China Sea conflict. There will be world-spanning repercussions, and when the dust clears, only one contestant will claim the spoils.

CORPORATE REPORT 2020: PETROCHEMICAL. ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL

PRECIS PETROCHEM'S BREAD AND BUTTER is CHOOH2,

PETROCHEM

THE SYNTHETIC ALCOHOL THAT HAS BECOME THE

Petrochemical products and agribusiness. World's largest CHOOH2 producers. HEADQUARTERS: Dallas-Ft. Worth Metro Area REGIONAL OFFICES: Washington D.C., San Francisco, Night City, New York, Chicago, Tokyo, London, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Rome, Sydney. Xoma Pharmaceuticals HQ, South Night City. Major Oil/Agricultural holdings in Canada, Alaska, Antarctica, and in the West, Midwest, and Southeast U.S.

NAME AND LOCATION OF MAJOR SHAREHOLDER:

WORLD'S STANDARD COMBUSTIBLE FUEL; THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR 60% OF WORLD SUPPLIES.

THE CORPORATION REMAINS ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF CHEMISTRY AND MATERIALS RESEARCH AND PRODUCTION. AND BY VIRTUE OF OWNING A HUGE FRACTION OF THE WORLD'S ARABLE LAND, IT IS ALSO AMONG THE WORLD'S LARGEST AGRICULTURAL CONCERNS.

FROM THE OUTSIDE, THE COMPANY APPEARS STABLE. WITHIN, THINGS ARE NOT so ROSY. TENSION

Ellen Trieste-Youngblood, Crystal Palace Orbital Facility, 18.5% EMPLOYEES: World Wide 400,000 Troops 50,000 Covert 1800

BETWEEN THE CAMPS OF TRENTON PARKER AND ELLEN TRIESTE is BECOMING CRITICAL. BOTH SIDES P R E P A R E FOR A STRUGGLE THAT COULD TEAR THE COMPANY APART. IT REMAINS TO BE SEEN HOW LONG THE COMPANY CAN STAY SECURE AS WORLD (AND INTERNAL) TENSIONS RISE.

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HISTORY 2004 Trenton Parker strode across the desert. All around him stood monuments to his family's former glory. The giant oil pumps dotted the plain for miles around. Once they had all dipped their heads in ceaseless, coordinated rhythm, pumping precious oil from the depths of the Earth; a field of enormous metal birds, bobbing in an endless orgy of feeding. Once Trenton had thought the feeding would never end. The machines would churn into eternity, drawing fossil fuels from some endless reservoir that would never run dry. He had been young and ignorant then, living off the fat of a family that had grown accustomed to an uninterrupted income of staggering proportions. Now he knew better. One by one, over the years, the machines had ground to a halt. The oil had disappeared, and there was nothing left for the machines to bob for. The pipes to the refinery and the shipping ports in Calves ton had run dry. Oh, there was still oil produced in Texas, and some of it even came from the Parker family oil company, but it was a trickle. Now the oil was shipped by truck to the refineries, and it was used only for the manufacture of chemicals and synthetics. Those oil fields that weren't given over to cattle were home to Nomad tribes. Or completely desolate. It wasn't over for the Parker family, though. Not by a long shot. The family had owned plenty of land, much of which was arable. Foresight had lead Trenton's father, Louis, to raise the capital to make an investment that many others had scoffed at. Five years ago, when the oil was still flowing, Louis Parker had set up a licensing agreement with the infant Italian genetic engineering firm, Biotechnica. Parker Petrochemicals had become the only company in the United States permitted to commercially grow the genetically-altered wheat Triticum vulgaris megasuavis, a highsugar grain which was fermented and catalyzed to produce the synthetic alcohol fuel, CHOOH2. Trenton stopped at a barbed wire fence and leaned against a post. He pushed the brim of his Stetson up and surveyed the land before him. As far as he could see, it was covered with rolling waves of golden wheat. Ripples spread across die fields as the wind eddied over the low hills. Off in the distance a phalanx of combine harvesters rolled in a staggered line almost a kilometer across. Five years of waiting had finally paid off. The family had been losing money ever since buying the license to grow the grain. For a while, it had looked like a monumental mistake. Land was being wasted, money had been spent, and equipment was idle. Suddenly, however, things had reversed themselves. After five years of hemming and hawing, Ford and General Motors both announced that they would begin manufacturing automobiles equipped with CHOOH2-burning engines. Toyota, Honda and many other automotive giants had soon followed suit. Research was under way

into producing jet turbines that could burn the heavy alcohol, and shipbuilding companies were experimenting with it. Soon CHOOH2 would be to the world what gasoline, kerosene and a score of other fuels had been. And no one in the U.S. was producing it except for Parker Petrochemicals. Too bad old man Louis never lived to see his dream bear fruit (grain?), thought Trenton. Or maybe not. Now it was all his. Well, really his and Ellen's. Ellen Trieste was the woman who had provided much of the capital for the purchase of the Biotechnica license. The family hadn't enough assets to swing the deal by itself at the time. Louis Parker had persuaded Ellen Trieste to sink tens of millions of dollars into the deal. The license might allow Parker Petrochemical to grow T. megasuavis, but it was Trieste who had the true power of life and death over the company. With a word she could pull the license and plunge the family into bankruptcy. Not that she was likely to do it. Trieste was set to reap a huge return on the investment, and she was also a prime shareholder in the company. It bothered Trenton that this woman held such power over his family's company, but he figured that it wouldn't last too long. She was old, and Trenton figured that she would be dead within five or ten years. She had no direct heirs as far as he knew, and with her gone, he would be in a position to purchase her shares in the company and take sole control of the Biotechnica license. It was only a matter of time.

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CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: PETROCHEMICAL ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL 2007 Trenton had to admit that things were going pretty well for the company. Under Ellen Trieste's guidance and his administration, Parker Petrochemicals had expanded like never before. The company had diversified its holdings and resources. It was now responsible for over 60% of world-wide CHOOH2 production and it had a monopoly on the North American market. Across the world there were billions of acres devoted to the production of the genetically engineered wheat from which CHOOH2 was made. The company had become one of the largest agricultural powers in the world. It was also a major international force in chemical and materials research, development and production. Labs and factories around the world were working on developing cutting edge products for the company. Parker Petrochemicals had also become potent in another way. Shrewd acquisition and maneuvering and the development of new technologies and geological surveying techniques had allowed the company to uncover several new oil fields and to reactivate many old ones that were though to have been exhausted. This gave them access to an increasingly precious commodity. Despite developments in synthetics, there were still some materials and chemicals that could only be created from fossil fuels. Although the amount of oil being pumped was only a fraction of what it had been in die past, it was enough to boost company fortunes considerably. All of the oil went into material and chemical manufacturing. Since the advent of CHOOH2, there was no longer any need to burn it for power. The company had been frustrated in one area. Huge, untapped oil reserves had been discovered in the Siberian territory of die Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics and in the South China Sea. There was enough oil in these reserves to triple the wealth of die company. Trenton tried to arrange a deal with SovOil, die giant soviet oil company. Under the terms of the deal, the company would get pumping rights in Siberia in return for helping SovOil to develop better pumping technology of its own. The deal fell through when SovOil developed its own pumping and exploration techniques. Trenton turned to the South China Sea instead, establishing several successful company drilling and pumping operations. Even there he was haunted by SovOil, however, as the giant Soviet company established its own operations in die region. Tensions spiralled as the two organizations competed for the same resources. At the same time, internal problems began to plague the company. Over the years, Ellen Trieste had expanded her interests in the corporation. By 2007 she was die majority shareholder, although Trenton was the chairman, and only slightly behind in overall shares. Trieste proposed to the board that die name of die company be changed from Parker Petrochemicals to Petrochemical Associates International, or Petrochem for short. She felt that the new name would better reflect the company's diversification and international interests.

Trenton was horrified. This was still the company that his family had created, and he would be damned if he was going to let the name be changed. A power struggle followed, and Trenton came out the loser. He still held his position on the board, but Ellen Trieste consolidated her majority share, seized the chairmanship, and ousted Trenton as the major power in the company. Trenton was appointed Chief Executive Officer in a move to appease him, but a rift had been created between him and Ellen Trieste. That rift would never be repaired. 20O8

After months of escalation, tensions between Petrochem and SovOil finally exploded in the South China Sea as the two corporations competed for drilling space in the oil fields. Three years of bitter war followed as the giant corporations destroyed each other's drilling rigs, sank each other's tankers, and fought on land and sea. Thousands of miles of pristine coastline was destroyed as billions of barrels of crude oil flowed into the water. Entire cultures died out as fishing grounds were destroyed. Warfare spread into Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines. (See the included article on the Second Corporate War.) 2O1O

The war in the South China Sea came to an end. Petrochem had lost, and SovOil became the sole drilling power in the region and the world's largest producer of crude oil and crude oil products, bar none. Petrochem was not even close any more. Fortunately, they still had the worlds largest CHOOH2 production facilities, and a great empire of chemical and materials research and fabrication facilities. The war had put a crimp in the company's fortunes, but not seriously. A few years of slow growth followed, as Petrochem recouped its financial and manpower losses. The war had not helped to ease the tensions between Trenton Parker and Ellen Trieste. Ellen had firmly supported the war, while Trenton had argued against it. For a while it looked like Trenton would reverse his losses and seize control of the company, but Trieste rallied her supporters and headed off a coup at the last instant. The animosity between the two shareholders grew, but neither was able to unseat the other completely. Nor was either willing to risk direct action against the other. 201 1

In failing health, and fearing for her life, Ellen Trieste moved her entire estate and control of her personal holdings up into the newly-completed Crystal Palace orbital. A Frenchwoman by birth, Trieste had helped to underwrite the construction of the ESA orbital and had been one of the project's major supporters. She ensconced herself in a secure villa on the orbital and began conducting all of her business dealings via telecommunications or virtual reality conference. Ironically, Trenton backed of in his pressure against Trieste. With her being in failing health, he became more and more certain that 13

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH 2020

he would soon be the sole power at Petrochem. If he could appear supportive of the old woman in her failing years it might sit better with the board when he made his move for sole control after her death. She still had no successor, and Trenton felt sure that he would face no real competition in bidding for her shares and holdings. 2015

Ellen Trieste amazed Petrochem and the world by announcing that she planned to marry fellow board member Angus Youngblood. The shocking thing was that Youngblood was forty years her junior. Youngblood had always been a firm supporter of Trieste's policies, and he had been a thorn in Trenton Parker's side on several occasions. Often, Youngblood had provided the key votes that had enabled one of Trieste's proposals to win board approval or had caused one of Trenton's to be vetoed. If there was animosity between Parker and Trieste, the hatred between Parker and Youngblood could hardly be measured.

Petrochem is now a major world force. It remains on the cutting edge of chemistry and materials research and production, and it is now the world's largest agricultural corporation and greatest producer of CHOOH2. From the outside, the corporation appears stable. Within the corporation, however, things are not so rosy. The tension between Trenton Parker's camp and Ellen Trieste and Angus Youngblood is becoming critical. Each side is preparing for a war that could tear the company apart from the inside out. Intrigue and betrayal are rampant. It is anyone's guess as to what's going to happen next.

MAIN PRODUCTS AND INTENT CHOOH2

Trenton's plans for the future had been dealt a serious blow by the announcement. There was no doubt that Trieste would leave everything to Youngblood, giving the young Australian virtual control of the corporation. Trenton would be ousted for sure once Youngblood assumed control. In an effort to secure his position Trenton began a new campaign of PR, hoping to secure as many supporters as possible on the board. He would sooner die than see the company his father created jerked from his grasp by the unlikely pairing of a septuagenarian dowager and an Australian upstart. 2016

In a tabloid frenzy, Angus Youngblood and Ellen Trieste were married with an extravagant ceremony. The entire ceremony took place in the virtual reality of the Net. All of the guests, including Trenton, attended via braindancc. In the virtual reality, the decrepit Ellen appeared as a virginal beauty somewhere in her late teens or early twenties. Security was provided by a host of crack Netrunners and overseen by ADRIAN, Ellen's personal AI. (This was doubly important as the Third Corporate War was raging throughout the Net.) The announcement was made that all of the couple's time together, including conjugal incidents, would be spent in the VR. By this time, Ellen was living in isolation, refusing to expose her body directly to any other living creature, including her husband. This was the first time, as far as anyone knew, that this kind of relationship had been attempted. There had been virtual dating services and recreations, and people's personalities had been duplicated into AIs, but no living person had ever tried to maintain a day-to-day intimate relationship through the Net. Sociologists waxed enthusiastic about the possibilities opened up. Cultural barriers, language barriers, and age barriers could all be crossed. Other people said it was one more nail in the coffin of humanity. Knowing the whole marriage to be a farce, Trenton dismissed the entire event.

Petrochems bread and butter is CHOOH2, the synthetic alcohol that has become the world's standard combustible fuel. Although CHOOH2 was developed by the small Biotechnica Corporation, it is produced by many other companies throughout the world. Biotechnica lacks the giant agricultural and processing resources necessary to grow the genetically-altered wheat and yeast in significant amounts, and process the rough product into CHOOH2. Instead, Biotechnica licenses the rights to farm the patented organisms and refine the products to other companies. Since CHOOH2 is the world fuel standard, and is both patented and impossible to produce without the engineered plants, these licenses are incredibly valuable. Corporations around the world bid against one another when the licenses become available. Bids in hard Eurodollars often rocket into the billions, and more than one corporate war has erupted over the licenses. The first company to buy a license to produce CHOOH2 was Petrochem. Because Petrochem was one of the initial investors in CHOOH2 it has a special agreement with Biotechnica. When Petrochems ten year license expires, the corporation need not compete with other bidders to renew. It need only negotiate a new price with Biotechnica. This arrangement has been profitable for both corporations. The result is that Petrochem is the worlds largest producer of CHOOH2. Although over 14 other companies also produce the fuel, Petrochem is responsible for 60% of the world supply. By agreement with Biotechnica it is the sole licensee in North America, and it has a monopoly on the United States market. CHOOH2 is a modified, synthetic grain alcohol produced by catalyzing the raw product created by Biotechnica's genetically-engineered organisms. It burns more rapidly and at a higher temperature than most other alcohols, making it much more suitable for use as a fuel. Different catalyzing processes result in several isomers and molecular weights in the molecule. These various types of CHOOH2 are used in different kinds

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CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: PETROCHEMICAL. ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL

Typical CHOOH-4U station in Heywood of engines. Lighter varieties fuel internal combustion engines, intermediate versions find their way into jet engines and turbine engines, and heavy versions power ships and electrical generators. All of the molecules have the same proportion of elements, and all have two, four or six of the patented CHOOH groups on them. Mixtures of the weights are used for special applications. Any CHOOH2 engine will burn any variety of the fuel, but each works most efficiently with the correct weight. CHOOH2 fuels burn cleanly, producing much more manageable emissions than hydrocarbon products. The fuel itself is toxic, however, as many winos and boosters have discovered after experimenting with what they thought was a strange variety of ethanol. The effects are similar to those of wood alcohol. At low doses, CHOOH2 causes disorientation and blindness. Slightly higher doses cause death. CHOOH2 is sold like gasoline, dispensed from pumps at roadside stations or wholesaled to airlines and shipping companies. Unlike gasoline, there is only one grade of each type of CHOOH2. If you want to fill up your car, you're going to put in automotive (light) CHOOH2. There are no quality distinctions such as regular and premium, at least in the United States. Overseas there are a couple of levels of purity depending on the company producing the fuel.

In the U.S. prices are very consistent from station to station, since all buy their fuel from Petrochem. The price does change in response to the availability of die crops and catalysts that are necessary to produce the finished product. A bad harvest or a blight can double the cost of CHOOH2 almost overnight. Outside of North America several companies sell CHOOH2, and the price fluctuates even more as they compete with one another for market shares.

FARMS AND REFINERIES The essential raw ingredient of CHOOH2 is a bioengineered, highsugar wheat that is grown on enormous farms in many countries. Rolling hills covered with grain have replaced oil fields, and enormous CHOOH2 catalyzing plants have been built on die foundations of refineries world-wide, with fermentation and yeast vats standing where oil tanks once dominated. Double-hulled tankers now carry the raw stages and finished product across the oceans, from farms to refineries and from refineries to customers. Enormous pipelines span continents, keeping the essential fuel flowing from the refineries and ships into die vehicles of the world's population. Petrochem and its subsidiaries have millions of acres of farm land in the U.S. alone, and millions more overseas, all devoted to the CHOOH2 wheat, T. vulgaris megasuavis. The corporation oversees the harvesting of the wheat and its fermentation and refinement at many facilities around the world. Petrochem farms and

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MERRILL., ASUKAGA & FINCH

OIL refineries are a universally common sight, and the Petrochem CHOOH4U fuel stops arc ubiquitous along the highways, and in the cities, of the world. Petrochem also wholesales CHOOH2 to other fuel-station operators. It does this to camouflage its monopoly from an American population that is suspicious of the enormous trusts that dominate 21st century commerce. It's a sure bet, however, that any fuel you buy in the U.S. comes from a Petrochem-owned farm via a Petrochem-owned refinery. It is quite possible that fuel bought overseas comes from die same source.

Only two companies still pump measurable amounts of crude oil in 2020. By far, the leader is SovOil, which sits on top of the world's largest remaining oil reserves. Although its oil resources are only a fraction of SovOil's, Petrochem is the only other world power in petrochemicals. With the advent of CHOOH2, oil is rarely burned for fuel outside of the Soviet Union, but it is sail a key raw material for the production of synthetic materials and many chemical and pharmaceutical products. Petrochem has active oil pumping operations in Canada, Texas, Alaska, California and South America. The only sizable fields are off of the California coast and in Alaska. Most of the other fields are active only because Petrochem has developed new technologies which allow it to extract oil from fields previously thought to have been tapped out. Petrochem is ceaselessly exploring the world for undiscovered oil reserves, competing with its old adversary SovOil for the few fertile deposits remaining. The company still stings from its loss to SovOil in the war over the massive South China Sea fields, and the management longs for another find of a similar size.

CHOOH2 wheat is also edible, and as it happens, quite tasty when made into breads and other grain products. A good harvest sometimes leads to a surplus of grain. When this happens, Petrochem sells die grain to food manufacturers or countries in need of food relief. Occasionally, as a public relations move, Petrochem will donate the grain to famine-stricken nations. Ironically, because of the licensing agreements, no companies can afford to grow T. megasuavis solely for food purposes. Biotechnica and Petrochem have both taken legal steps against corporations and nations that illegally grow the hardy grain, and Petrochem has been known to use military action to enforce legal judgements.

Petrochem has a few oil refineries in the U.S., South America and Western Europe. These refineries process crude oil into chemical components that are shipped to factories and labs for use in the manufacture of plastics, chemicals and other products. As oil becomes scarcer, oil-derived products go up in price. Although they account for only a small percentage of its output, Petrochem makes substantial amounts of money off of oil and

CHOOH2 TECHNOLOGY Petrochem produces CHOOH2 processing and refining technology for export and for its own use. Since Petrochem was the first corporation to market CHOOH2 on a large scale, it developed much of die technology used in the production and refining of the fuel. Many overseas CHOOH2 companies buy their own processing equipment from Petrochem. They may not have a world-wide monopoly on die fuel, but Petrochem does make sure that it extracts its pound of flesh for die patented fermentation and refining equipment. A notable exception to this is SovOil, which produces its own CHOOH2 equipment rather than buying it from Petrochem. Since Petrochems techniques are patented, SovOil developed a system which uses a different process. It is more unwieldy than the Petrochem process, and it produces fuel with more impurities in it, but CHOOH2 isn't a major product for SovOil, and the Soviet corporation is willing to make some concessions to avoid giving Petrochem any business. Petrochem also cooperates with firms such as IEC and Militech in the development of new CHOOH2-fueled engines and power systems. The more systems that rely on CHOOH2, die more of the fuel Petrochem will sell. Currently, projects arc in the works to develop more powerful and more efficient CHOOH2 engines and to develop CHOOH2 replacements for gasoline-based weapons such as Napalm and flamethrowers. So far, the higher burning temperature of hydrocarbon products has made CHOOH2 versions of these weapons less desirable. A CHOOH2 thermal weapon does only sixty percent of the damage of a comparably-sized Napalm weapon. Research continues, however, and Petrochem is confident that they'll have competitive CHOOH2 explosive and incendiary systems on the market within a couple of years.

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CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: PETROCHEMICAL ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL. coal-based chemicals and materials. Another major fossil fuel find could increase the corporation's wealth immeasurably. PETROCHEMICALS Organic chemical engineering technology has progressed considerably in the last two decades, and many petrochemically-derived materials have been replaced by substances that can be produced without a hydrocarbon base. Certain applications still require substances that haven't yet been replaced, however. Petrochem is one of the companies that fills this niche, providing specialized petrochemicals and polymers for use in manufacturing, aerospace engineering and medical engineering. OIL TECHNOLOGY Being one of only two companies still pumping any quantity of oil, Petrochem must be largely self-sufficient when it comes to developing and building oil drilling, pumping, and refining technology. Petrochem's engineers have developed a variety of techniques for wresting oil from old fields, including steam injection repressurization, super-deep drills, and flexible drills that can drill laterally to reach previously inaccessible areas. Maritime drilling techniques have improved too, with floating and submerged platforms reaching oil deposits in untapped sea floor oil fields. Petrochem reserves all of its drilling and pumping technology for in-house use, and does not export it or sell it to other companies.

Petrochem's special drilling projects are prime targets for industrial espionage and sabotage, and the corporation devotes a large percentage of its troops and agents to safeguarding them. GENERAL CHEMISTRY Petrochem is one of the largest manufacturers of chemical products in the world. It has factories in many nations, devoted to making all kinds of chemical products from synthetic motor oil, to fertilizer, makeup components, pesticides, and food additives. Literally thousands of products roll out of Petrochem's labs and factories and into stores, homes, and other factories around the world. Relaxed pollution and environmental protection standards have made chemical products cheaper and easier to manufacture than ever before. Petrochem has also established hundreds of plants in Third World and economically-depressed countries where large, cheap labor pools and relaxed regulation standards make it possible for the company to manufacture record amounts of chemical products. THE XOMA CORPORATION Petrochem has a variety of subsidiaries devoted to a number of specialized chemical research and manufacturing applications. Xoma Corporation is the most important of these subsidiaries. Xoma (pronounced "zoma") is responsible for the development and manufacture of Petrochem's extensive line of pharmaceutical products. Xoma is a world leader in the development of new

Petrochem has a variety of special oil recovery programs under way. The Submerged Drilling Project is one example. It operates special facilities on the sea-floor areas off of the Gulf of Alaska and the Californian continental shelf. These platforms are prototypes for models that will eventually be installed in areas too deep or too vulnerable for anchored platforms. The Submerged Drilling Project is testing the viability of long-term underwater drilling and pumping operations. If the program is successful it could open up new drilling possibilities in oceans around the world. The drills and pumps are operated by crews that live under water for up to several months at a time. The oil is stored in underwater tank farms and pumped directly into special IEC cargo submarines that have been converted for tanker duty. The oil doesn't see the surface until it is offloaded at the refining terminal, possibly several thousand miles away. Another project currently in the experimental stage is the ice drilling program in Antarctica. Petrochem, along with SovOil, has openly flaunted the 1990 treaty banning mineral exploration in Antarctica and launched a massive Polar Oil recovery program. Special rigs have been designed to penetrate the polar ice cap, which can be up to several kilometers thick. Once the ice is breached, the drill must still penetrate several thousand meters of crust to reach the oil deposits. If this program is successful it will give Petrochem access to large oil fields which have been heretofore inaccessible. A conflict may be shaping up, however, since SovOil is also exploring Antarctic drilling potential. Numerous nations and environmental groups have protested the breaking of the treaty, but none have the power to interfere with corporate operations. 17

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drugs. They have created vaccinations and treatments for ailments as wide as AIDS, schizophrenia, cyberpsychosis, and athlete's foot. The subsidiary attracts many of the best and the brightest of the physical chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology fields. Xoma's labs are highly proprietary, and commandeer some of Petrochem's toughest security. They are currently branching into genetic drugs and custom bacteria and viral development programs in a cooperative venture with Petrochem's ally, Biotechnica. There have been allegations that Petrochem, via Xoma Corp, is connected with several incidents of designer drug proliferation and designer plague outbreak, but none of these cases has ever been brought to trial, much less proved. Petrochem's legal department has been effective in deflecting all claims, and even turning popular sentiment through the publicizing of the corporation's contributions to medical research. WEAPONS Exploiting the violent nature of the modern world, Petrochem also maintains a sizable department devoted to the development of chemical weapons, combat drugs and chemical explosives. Petrochem faces stiff competition from Militech in this department, but this has not stopped it from marketing a highly successful line of products to national and corporate armies across the globe. It has also not kept Militech from purchasing many products from Petrochem, including solid and liquid rocket propellents, advanced materials for the components of vehicles and weapons systems, and of course, CHOOH2 to run its vehicles. Petrochem has been at the forefront with the development of a line of lethal and incapacitating chemical weapons which act in seconds and then break down into harmless components within minutes of use, leaving the area safe for mop-up troops to move in without requiring protective gear. They have also developed a line of "Selective Agents" designed to be ineffective against troops that have received a series of antidote treatments. This allows soldiers to fight without protection in a cloud lethal to their enemies, or to call down defensive chemical strikes on their own positions without fear for their lives. There have been one or two unfortunate incidents with defective antidote treatments, but they have not dampened overall enthusiasm for the products.

company has a line of completely synthetic polymers and ceramics which have found popular acceptance as building materials, automotive parts, and electronics components. One of Petrochem's subsidiaries is Nanosys terns Inc., one of the world's leading manufacturers of superconductors and nanotech devices. Another Petrochem company produces Asphate, the ceramic which has replaced oil-based asphalt as a matrix for road surfaces. Petrochem has released groundbreaking alloys and ceramics that can replace steel and aluminum as the structural materials in buildings and allow new styles and dimensions in construction. Petrochem has developed a staggering variety of materials, from clothing fabrics to concretes. It currently supplies synthetic raw materials to a number of companies which manufacture other products, making it an essential link in the commercial success of corporations around the world. This dependence of other corporations on Petrochem products has served to make the corporation a world leader. FOOD Petrochem owns a huge fraction of the world's arable land. The corporation uses most of it for CHOOH2 production but some of it is devoted to other crops. Most of the time, Petrochem has a surplus of T. megasuavis, the wheat that produces CHOOH2, so planting more of it than necessary only serves to cut the price of the grain. Some of the land isn't even suitable for growing wheat, and must be used for other crops. Consequently, Petrochem puts its extra land to use by growing a variety of dedicated food and textile crops. Corn, beans, fruits, potatoes, soy, cotton and rice arc all grown in large quantity by the corporation. As part of its agricultural interests, Petrochem also has large herds of beef and dairy cattle in the United States and South America, and poultry farms around the world. It even maintains fish ranches and aquaculture projects, although these represent a tiny part of the company's empire.

Petrochem also bought the license to produce biological and viral agents developed by Biotechnica. Biotechnica is largely a development house, and it lacks the facilities for full-scale production of many of the items it creates. Because of the long, profitable relationship between the two corporations, Petrochem usually gets first crack at profitable licenses for Biotechnica weapons.

Petrochem's food products are shipped around the world for wholesale and retail distribution. Most of the agricultural products are sold under the name of the corporation's agricultural subsidiary, Continental Farms Agricorp. Continental Agricorp was created solely as a marketing move, since it was felt that people would react badly to food products sold under the name Petrochem. Petrochem's ownership of Continental Agricorp is not a secret, but that one step of removal is all that is necessary to appease the consumers. The company even owns an exclusive, suburban health-food chain called Good Earth Foods, but Good Earth goes out of the way to cover its link to Continental Agricorp and Petrochem. By virtue of Petrochem's huge holdings, Continental is one of the largest agricorps in the world.

ADVANCED MATERIALS Petrochem is responsible for the development and manufacture of a variety of materials designed to replace hydrocarbon-based plastics and other products dependent upon natural resources. The

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Petrochem maintains a huge research and development budget, and it has several subsidiaries devoted entirely to the creation of new products which are then manufactured by other branches of

18

CORPORATE REPORT 2020: PETROCHEMICAL. ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL.

the corporation. Petrochem labs register for thousands of patents every month. While it's true that only a few of those go on to be commercially viable products, it speaks of the huge funding and resources that the company is willing to invest in the expansion of its product line and information base. Petrochem labs currently work full-time on the development of advanced structural and electronic materials, drugs and pharmaceuticals, weapons, fuels and new recycling techniques. They recruit the best and the brightest of physical chemists, organic chemists, engineers, physicists, molecular biologists and biochemists. With the amount of talent at their disposal, it is not surprising that they produce a large number of the worlds groundbreaking advances in the chemical and physical sciences. They also have labs and researchers working constantly on mechanical and geophysical advances for the petroleum drilling department. These arc the researchers who created the methods and devices that allow Petrochem to exploit oil fields once thought to be inaccessible or depleted. They are also developing techniques for locating oil resources that have eluded discovery. OTHER ALTERNATE FUELS Some of Petrochem's mighty research and development resources are devoted to the endless quest for still more new fuel and energy systems. Petrochem is researching fusion, along with such companies as IEC Power Systems and Arasaka Heavy Industry. It is not doing it for the same reasons, however. IEC is researching fusion in order to provide a power source that can be used as an alternative to CHOOH2-burning plants. They feel that this will free up land for critical food production. This wouldn't effect the demand for CHOOH2 as a vehicle fuel, but it would cut down overall demand and reduce the value of Petrochem's CHOOH2 license. It might also force Petrochem to convert some land to dedicated food production and idle some of their refining capability: a costly situation. Petrochem is researching fusion so that, if a breakthrough is made, it will be able to share in the profits and cut its losses. Petrochem is also works continually on alternatives to the few products that still rely on fossil fuels and hydrocarbon products. Eventually, the oil will run out once and for all, and Petrochem wants to be ready to step in with the solution when that day happens. PETROCHEM'S PLANS Petrochem's directors are doing everything they can to guarantee the future prosperity of their corporation. A large part of this is ensuring that the demand for CHOOH2 remains high. Petrochem maintains a continual campaign extolling the virtues of CHOOH2 over such competitors as fusion power systems and battery-powered cars. So far, the program has been largely successful, and demand for CHOOH2 is still growing. No one has managed to come up with a better fuel, and as long as the supply of CHOOH2 isn't threatened, it seems unlikely that anything else will take its place.

Despite the continued success of CHOOH2, Petrochem is always on guard. There are competitors who would like to introduce their own alternate grain fuels, or simply damage Petrochem's sales. One way that these companies wage war is by subjecting each other's crops to bioengineered plagues. There have been crises where a large part of the world's megasuavis crop has been destroyed and the price of CHOOH2 has gone ballistic. As a safeguard, Petrochem developed a program which is now used by CHOOH2 companies around the globe. It grows several varieties of the plant, each of which produces CHOOH2, but each of which has different strengths and weaknesses with regard to viral, fungal and bacterial plagues. It becomes difficult for a saboteur to destroy more than a part of the crop. At the same time, Biotechnica, with Petrochem cooperation, is continually trying to develop tougher versions of the plant for its licensees to grow. But as the plants get tougher, so do the plagues, and the cycle spirals onward. In order to protect itself against this kind of action, Petrochem has taken to using military force in retaliation for sabotage. By the end of the Second Corporate War, Petrochem had accumulated a large army and an ample supply of war materiel. It does not hesitate to use these resources to safeguard its money crop. As a further safeguard, Petrochem is trying to expand its monopoly. It has been unable to persuade Biotechnica to make it the sole licensee for T. megasuavis, but it is continually expanding its market and attempting to drive competitors out of business. Petrochem has employed the plague tactic several times itself, and is shameless when it comes to edging out the competition however possible. Recently, Petrochem's market share has been growing in South America, but it faces serious competition in Europe and Asia from SovOil. SovOil's CHOOH2 has more impurities than Petrochem's, but it is competitively priced and functions identically to Petrochem's in every respect except for emissions. Petrochem currently has a large lobby working in governments across Europe and Asia. The lobby is attempting to toughen airquality standards so that people will be forced to abandon SovOil fuels. SovOil is a potent force, however, and it has been able to deflect Petrochem's efforts thus far. SovOil remains Petrochem's greatest competitor in oil drilling as well. SovOil holds the edge, with access to far greater reserves than Petrochem. Petrochem devotes huge amounts of time and money to trying to expand its oil reserves and undercut those of SovOil. The board of directors at Petrochem would like nothing so much as to see SovOil go under for good, but, despite their efforts, that isn't likely to happen any time in the near future. Petrochem continues to grow and diversify, expanding into more and wider areas of manufacturing and producing valuable chemical and materials patents every year. Most investors have targeted the company for good growth over the next few years if it can avoid another costly confrontation with SovOil. If the company continues to expand, the CHOOH2 demand stays consistent, 19

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

KEY PEOPLE

and the oil drilling projects in Antarctica and on the ocean floor work out, Petrochem may be contending with C Magazine's Top Five within a few years. (C, the Magazine fir the Corporate Executive, publishes the annual C Century Report, which derails the top 100 corporations in the world.) ENEMIES AND ALLIES Petrochem's most obvious enemy is SovOil. The two giants have a fifteen year history of animosity and competition, and tension is growing again. Many analysts have projected a new corporate war between the two within the next few years. If it should erupt at the same time as the long-projected Militech vs. Arasaka Conflict, the shockwaves will rock the corporate world to the core, and could plunge the real world into disaster. Close scrutiny is being paid to the relationship between the corporations. Apart from SovOil, Petrochem has no truly potent enemies. Many other companies compete in CHOOH2 production, but most of them are small enough so that they represent no real threat. Periodically they disrupt Petrochem's operations, but without a coalition, which is unlikely, they will be unable to cause Petrochem any long-term damage. Petrochem also competes with other agricorps, but few of them are willing to take any serious action since they rely on the corporation for fuel. Petrochem's strongest ally is Biotechnica. As long as Biotechnica holds the patents to CHOOH2, the two companies will remain cordial. Biotechnica will not bend to Petrochem's will, but it does give its largest licensee special deals. Many analysts thought that, once it had the secret of CHOOH2, Petrochem would squash the small Biotechnica and refuse to pay any license fees. Biotechnica has weapons that other corporations only dream about, however, including viruses which can destroy all known varieties of T. megasuavis. and prevent any seeds from being viable. What it created, it can destroy with unmatched efficiency. As long as Biotechnica holds these trump cards, Petrochem is unlikely to mess around. The companies continue to have a mutually beneficial business arrangement, although it strains a little at license renewal time. Petrochem also stays on a cordial footing with the industrial giants: Arasaka, Militech, EBM and IEC. Many of these corporations have special deals which enable them to purchase CHOOH2, at a bulk discount. This makes it cheaper for them to keep their armies running, and makes Petrochem a valuable ally. There are always other sources, however, and corporate alliances are fickle things. Petrochem's monopoly on the North American CHOOH2 supply is a valuable piece of insurance that has helped die corporation to remain secure in troubled times. It remains to be seen how long the company can stay secure as world tensions rise.

TRENTON PARKER (CORPORATE) Trenton Parker holds die second largest share of Petrochem Stock and is the current Chief Executive Officer of the corporation. Trenton inherited control of the company in 2003, when his father, Louis, died. Unlike his father, Trenton does not have absolute control over the corporation. He shares power with Ellen Trieste (see below), and in fact, has fewer shareholder votes than she does. His decisions as CEO are subject to her scrutiny, approval and modification. Trenton is understandably paranoid about his position with in the corporation. His position as CEO is due only to Ellen Trieste's deference to the company's tradition of family leadership. She gave him die position as a gesture of appeasement after persuading die board to remove Trenton's family name from that of the corporation. It is well known that Trieste would prefer to have a non-shareholding CEO that she can manipulate, but she has not acted on this yet because such a move would be unpopular with die other directors, many of whom are still loyal to Trenton. Trenton is doing his best to consolidate support before Trieste changes her mind. That day is coming, and it will mark the start of a major power war within the corporation. When the dust settles, either Ellen Trieste or Trenton Parker will be gone. Trent has given up his tactic of waiting for die aged Trieste to die. Not only has she persisted despite failing health,

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CORPORATE REPORT 2020: PETROCHEMICAL. ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL but her "husband," Angus Youngblood, stands to benefit from her schemes, and he will no doubt perpetuate them after her death. Trent is now planning on a full-scale power struggle involving most of the members of the board of directors. Trenton Parker is a handsome, tall man of forty-six. He is fit and strong, and follows in his family's tradition of outdoorsmanship. He is an accomplished rider and mountaineer, and spends much of his leisure time enjoying what's left of the wilderness. Unfortunately, his position requires that he be tailed by a discreet security force at all times. Trent takes good care of his body, exercising regularly and adhering to a strict diet. His job has forced him to have a chipware socket and interface plugs implanted, but he refuses to use any other cyberware. He is a vociferous and opinionated man, making friends and enemies with equal facility as he speaks his mind freely.

STATS: INT 10, REF 8, TECH 3, COOL 9, ATTR 9, LUCK 5, MA 8, BODY 8, EMP 8/7, SAVE 8, BTM-3. SKILLS:

Resources 9, Personal Grooming 5, Wardrobe and Style 6, Endurance 5, Oratory 4, Leadership 5, Seduction 4, Social 7, Persuasion and Fast Talk 3, Awareness/Notice 6, Education and General Knowledge 8, Wilderness Survival 7, Athletics 4, Brawling 5, Driving 6, Riding 8, Handgun 5, Rifle 7, Expert Petrochem Corp. 7, Expert Business 6, Expert Petrochemicals 4, Expert Management 8, Stock Market 8.

sizeable investment in the fortunes of the struggling Parker Petrochemicals. She has devoted herself to that project ever since, and now sits firmly at the helm of Petrochem. She has personal fortune valued at over eight billion Eurodollars.

CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Chipware Socket, Data Term Link, Interface Plugs.

Trieste has become more eccentric with age. As her health deteriorated, she became convinced that Earth's increasing pollution and population was to blame (which may have been the case). She removed herself to the confines of space, setting up shop in a villa in the ESA Crystal Tower orbital, a project which she helped to bankroll. She lives in a sterile apartment, and exposes herself to other human beings only in emergencies. She interacts entirely through telecommunications or virtual reality.

E L L E N TRIESTE (CORPORATE) At this point, Ellen Trieste is the major power at Petrochem. She has the most shareholder votes, is chairman of the board, and wields the most influence over the other board members. On issues where she and Trenton Parker disagree, she and her supporters usually edge him in the vote by just a few percentage points. Ellen is not happy with this, and she is looking to expand her control over the corporation. She would be quite happy to see Trent Parker pushed out of the company completely, and she is working toward this goal.

As Trieste becomes older she spends more and more time in the her custom virtual reality, a high definition, world-scale reproduction of an idealized post-war France. In her computer it is always just after VE day, and she is always the shining star returning to her homeland after a wartime exile in America. She is bathed perpetually in the computer-generated romance of movie stars and dashing young soldiers. Only business and necessary bodily functions interfere with her ongoing fantasy. Trieste is genuinely infatuated with Angus Youngblood. When the two rendezvous, he appears in the VR as her absentee love who has been valiantly fighting the Nazis and is now stationed in Germany.

Ellen was born in France in 1945, the daughter of a former resistance soldier and an American nurse. She dreamed of being an actress, and had a moderately successful film career as a sex diva in the mid and late 1960s. She never made it big in America, however, and she retired from acting in the mid 1970s. She had made a fair amount of money before the cameras, and decided to invest it. Her skills in money management far exceeded her skills as an actress, and within a few years she was sitting on top of a considerable fortune. In 1999 she made a

21

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

At 75, Trieste is still mobile and relatively energetic, but she has a several chronic ailments and is definitely deteriorating. Her decay is accelerated by all the time her body spends immobile while her brain interacts with her VR via braindancc. Within a couple of years she will require assistance to move or feed herself. When this happens, she plans to commit her brain entirely to the VR and conduct all her business from there. Her body will be entrusted to the care of robots and medical personnel. STATS: INT 10, REF 3, TECH 4, COOL 10, ATTR 2, LUCK 6, MA 3, BODY 3, EMP 10/7, SAVE 3, BTM-1. SKILLS: Resources 10, Leadership 6, Seduction 5 (in VR form only), Social 10, Persuasion and Fast Talk 4, Perform 7, Accounting 7, Awareness/Notice 6, Education and General Knowledge 7, Expert Petrochem Corp. 7, Expert Investor 9, Expert Business 6, Stock Market 9, French (Native), English 7. CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Chipware Socket, Interface Plugs, Data Term Link, Biomonitoring System, Pain Editor, Enhanced Antibodies, Nanosurgeons (aid medical treatment), Basic Cyberoptic, Times Square Marquee. A N G U S Y O U N G B L O O D (CORPORATE)

Angus Youngblood is a rich, young Australian investor. He became a major shareholder in Petrochem in 2013, when the company bought CHOOH2 growing land from his family's huge agricultural holdings in New South Wales. Angus is the third most powerful member of the Petrochem board of directors, subordinate only to Ellen Trieste and Trenton Parker. He is firmly in Trieste's camp, however, and always uses his votes to support her. Youngblood is looking out for himself only. He is out to take control of Petrochem for his own family, and is using Ellen Trieste as a tool toward that end. Her infatuation with him is a blessing in disguise, for it has allowed him to combine his stock with hers and form a large controlling interest. He views his marriage to her as a joke, and like Trent Parker, is waiting for her to die. Youngblood stands to inherit her fortune and her interests in Petrochem. When that happens, he will become the single greatest power within the corporation. Youngblood considers Trieste a hopeless braindancc lunatic with a staggering amount of power. He finds his time in her VR trying, and their sexual liaisons in the Net interesting but mildly disgusting. No matter how nubile she appears, he is always able to recall how old she really is. Youngblood plans to submit to Trieste's will only as long as she continues to make good business decisions. If she ever becomes irrational, he will take legal steps to have her declared incompetent so he can seize control of the corporation. Currently, Youngblood is lobbying to have Parker ousted from the CEO position, and his own brother, Malcolm, installed.

Always suave, witty and stylish, Youngblood is a handsome and healthy man of forty-one. He exerts an air of competence and control, and is known for his wit and casual bonhomie. It's a front that has disarmed many of his enemies. He's shrewd, ruthless, and has no qualms when it comes to mercilessly disposing of his enemies. STATS: INT 8, REF 7, TECH 7, COOL 10, ATTR 8, LUCK 7, MA 8, BODY 7, EMP 7/4, SAVE 7, BTM-2. SKILLS: Resources 8, Personal Grooming 6, Wardrobe and Style 7, Intimidate 5, Seduction 6, Social 7, Persuasion and Fast Talk 5, Awareness/Notice 5, Education and General Knowledge 6, Expert Petrochem Corp. 5, Expert Agriculture 6, Expert Business 7, Stock Market 5, Driving 6, Melee 2, Handgun 6, Rifle 4, Brawling 6. CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Interface Plugs, Chipware Socket, Data Term Link, Mr. Studd, Basic Cyberoptic, Times Square Marquee, Low-Lite™, Basic Cyberaudio, Radio Link, Phone Splice, Bug Detector. MALCOLM YOUNGBLOOD (CORPORATE) Malcolm Youngblood is Angus's younger brother. He lacks his elder brother's refinement and panache, but he is every bit as devious and power hungry. Malcolm has been in Australia, managing

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CORPORATE REPORT 2020: PETROCHEMICAL. ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL the Youngblood family holdings in his brother's absence, but he is targeted for bigger things. Angus is pushing Ellen Trieste to fire Trenton Parker and replace him with Malcolm. Angus claims that Malcolm will support Ellen's policies completely, but his real motivation is that his brother will be a bulwark of support for his own ambitions. Malcolm is not without his own plan. He sees his possible appointment at Petrochem as a major opportunity for himself. He would like to rise to a position on the board and divide power evenly with his brother, or even seize control for himself. A rivalry may develop between the two somewhere down the line, especially if Malcolm feels he is being shortchanged and goes behind his brothers back, or if Angus realizes the extent of Malcolm's ambitions. Malcolms advancement faces two obstacles. First, Ellen Trieste is not quite ready to force Trenton completely out of power. She still fears the reaction of the rest of die board. Also, at thirty-three, Malcolm is much younger than his brother. Both Ellen and Angus worry that people will complain about Malcolm's youth if he is made CEO. Angus intends to let Malcolm season for a couple more years, maybe by appointing him to a lesser position first. Malcolm doesn't want to wait, and his impatience may be his undoing.

STATS: INT 7, REF 8, TECH 6, COOL 8, ATTR 10, LUCK 3, MA 9, BODY 8, EMP 8/6, SAVE 8, BTM-3. SKILLS: Resources 6, Personal Grooming 3, Wardrobe and Style 2, Seduction 2, Social 4, Persuasion and Fast Talk 6, Awareness/Notice 5, Education and General Knowledge 5, Expert Agriculture 6, Expert Business 5, Driving 5, Brawling 7, Melee 5, Handgun 6, Rifle 5. CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Chipware Socket, Interface Plugs, Data-Term Link, Basic Cyberoptic, Times Square Marquee. RITA REDHAWK BRODIE (CORPORATE)

Rita Redhawk Brodie is Petrochem's Chief Financial Officer of the past five years. She is a supremely competent woman with superb corporate credentials. Brodie is also aware of the power struggle being waged at the corporation's highest levels. She has not told anyone, but she is firmly behind Trenton Parker. Her father worked for Parker Petrochemicals for several years, and as a native Texan, she remains loyal to the old power structure. She wants to tell Parker of her allegiance, but is scared of tipping her hand. As CFO, she has a fair amount of power, but she could be forced out if Trieste or Youngblood got word of her alignment. Brodie has been approached by Angus Youngblood, and she has told him that she supports him and Ellen Trieste. She is hoping to get access to information that will be of use to Trenton Parker. As a

double agent, she may have overstepped herself, however, as she is now in danger of being crushed in die middle of the power struggle. Rita Brodie is a tough, attractive Native American woman in her early fifties. She is an efficient and fair executive, and well liked by the people who work under her. She has made her name in a world of backstabbers by soliciting the loyalty and support of her underlings. This support may be invaluable to her if die power war heats up. She has had an on again/off again romantic dalliance with Col. Marshall R. Shepard (below).

STATS: INT 9, REF 5, TECH 7, COOL 9, ATTR 8, LUCK 5, MA 6, BODY 7, EMP 10/9, SAVE 7, BTM-2. SKILLS: Resources 7, Wardrobe and Style 4, Streetwise 3, Human Perception 7, Leadership 6, Social 6, Accounting 9, Awareness/Notice 6, Education and General Knowledge 7, Expert Math 7, Expert Business 6, Expert Financial Analysis 7, Programming 5, Driving 6, Handgun 5, Rifle 2, Riding 6. CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Chipware Socket, Data Term Link, Interface Plugs. COL.. MARSHALL. R. SHEPARD (SOLO)

Colonel Marshall Rock Shepard commands Petrochem's mighty military forces. He is a skilled and experienced military leader, with battle credentials ranging from Eastern Europe to South America to Central and Western Africa. Shepard was wooed to Petrochem in 2011, after the corporation's defeat in die South China Sea. The company felt it was time for new military leadership, and Shepard was tapped to replace Adm. Casey Sawyer (Ret.), who had resigned in die aftermath of die SovOil debacle. The board decided to bring in an outsider rather than promoting someone from inside the corporation because it was felt that a whole new perspective was necessary to revitalize Petrochem's worn-out military forces. Shepard is a native of Liberia, and he cut his military teeth in one of that country's innumerable civil wars. Growing disenchanted with the petty differences of Liberia's warring factions, he went abroad to seek more diverse experience. As a roving mercenary, he served in an enlisted position in the Congo, Egypt, and Zimbabwe. The British intervention force in Zimbabwe recognized his leadership talent and sent him back to England for officer training, but he soon abandoned Britain to seek independent work again. As an officer, he lead forces for Brazil and Yugoslavia, and briefly, for Orbital Air. Orbital Air sent Shepard to the elite Lazarus Military Institute (see Corpbook Two), where he learned advanced leadership and strategy techniques. Petrochem made him an offer he couldn't refuse shortly after graduation, and he has been there ever since. His stay at Petrochem marks his longest tenure with any one employer.

23

MERRILL., ASUKAGA & FINCH Link, Muscle and Bone Lace, Skin Weave, Basic Cyberoptic, Image Enhancement, Low Lite™, Infrared, Times Square Marquee, Targeting Scope, armored left Cyberarm and right Cyberleg with reinforced joints and thickened myomar.

CAPTAIN ANDREW WEYLAND (CAPTAIN BOA BOA) (SOLO) Andrew Weyland leads one of the most terrifying black ops units in the corporate world: The Water Leopards. The Water Leopards are a group of Jamaican mercenaries that freelanced successfully for several years before hooking up with Angus Youngblood. Since Youngblood joined Petrochem, they have become part of the company's military forces. (Sec Uniforms, Equipment and Personnel for more information on the Water Leopards.) Weyland is heavily into Rastafarian Mysticism, and he uses it as a tool to terrorize his targets and enemies. A ruthless and cruel man who enjoys his work and never tires of killing, he is a lethal enemy. He is also completely loyal to Angus Youngblood, although nominally a corporation employee. Weyland is a skilled soldier, and he aspires to command of Petrochem's forces. Youngblood has promised to oblige him when he seizes power, but the Water Leopards have an acrimonious relationship with the regular soldiers, and such a move could prove dangerous. Weyland and Shepard dislike and distrust each other, but they work together as their jobs dictate. Shepard is forty-six years old. He has been a soldier since he was sixteen. All of his non-military education has come in fits and starts between military employments. Shepard is a rather stout black man with short, greying hair and a neatly trimmed beard. A physical powerhouse, he is soft spoken and intelligent. Popular with his troops, he has never been able to overcome his discomfort at dealing with executives and boardrooms. Shepard is trying to remain impartial in the face of the boardroom power struggle, but his command of the army is a desirable asset, and he expects to be dragged into the conflict eventually. STATS: INT 9, REF 9, TECH 7, COOL 10, ATTR 6, LUCK 7, MA 8, BODY 10/12, EMP 9/5, Save 10, BTM-4. SKILLS:

Combat Sense 8, Strength Feat 6, Resist Torture/Drugs 5, Leadership 9, Awareness/Notice 6, English (Native), French 6, Spanish 5, Shadow/Track 3, Wilderness Survival 6, Education and General Knowledge 4, Expert Military Strategy 8, Expert Small Unit Tactics 5, Expert Special Operations 7, Expert Naval Warfare 3, Driving 6, Handgun 5, Rifle 7, Submachinegun 4, Melee 7, Heavy Weapons 5, Stealth 3.

CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Sandevistan Speedware, Chipware Socket, Interface Plugs, Smartgun Link, Data Term

24

CORPORATE REPORT 2020: PETROCHEMICAL. ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL We/land is a tall, imposing Jamaican, with a full set of braided dreadlocks. He sports the piercing, yellow, cybernetic eyes that are the trademark of the Water Leopards. He has a light-tattoo of a snakeskin pattern over his entire body, from which his troops coined his nickname of Boa Boa.

STATS: INT 8, REF 10, TECH 6, COOL 10, ATTR 5, LUCK3, MA 10, BODY 10/12, EMP 8/3, SAVE 10/12, BTM-4. SKILLS:

Combat Sense 9, Intimidate 10, Resist Torture/Drugs 10, Leadership 6, Awareness/ Notice 7, Expert Black Ops 7, Expert Small Unit Tactics 6, Expert Jamaican/Rastafarian Mysticism 10, Shadow/Track 5, Wilderness Survival 6, Athletics 5, Dodge and Escape 5, Driving 4, Fencing 6, Melee 7, Capoeira 6, Handgun 6, Rifle 6, Submachinegun 6, Heavy Weapons 2, Demolitions

4, Stealth 7. CYBERWARE: Light Tattoo, Basic Processor, Chipware Socket, Smartgun Link, Interface Plugs, Kerenzikov +2, Muscle and Bone Lace, Wolvers (both hands), Skin Weave, Basic Cyberoptic, Color Shift, Targeting Scope, Low-Lite™, Times Square Marquee. BASIC PETROCHEM EXECUTIVES (CORPORATE)

STATS: INT 7 to 10, REF 7/?, TECH 5, COOL 8, ATTR 9, LUCK 5, MA 7, BODY 6 to 9/?, EMP 8/?, SAVE 6 to 9, BTM-2 to-3.

CYBERWARE: Varies. Very common.

SKILLS: Resources 6, Personal Grooming 4, Wardrobe and Style 5, Social 5, Persuasion and Fast Talk 6, Awareness/Notice 5, Education and General Knowledge 6, Expert Manager or Analyst or Accountant or etc. 4-10, Expert Petrochem Corp. 3-10, Brawling 4, Handgun 5, Driving 4.

Note: Guards also get Expert Urban Combat 4, Expert Security Procedures 5, and Electronic Security 4, Expert Fire/Bomb Safety 4.

GEAR: See Uniforms, Equipment and Personnel.

PETROCHEM SPECIAL OPS SOLDIERS/WATER LEOPARDS (SOLO) STATS: INT 6 to 10, REF 10/>, TECH 8, COOL 10, ATTR 6, LUCK 5, MA 10, BODY 8 to 10/?, EMP 7/?, SAVE 8 to 10, BTM -3 to -4.

CYBERWARE: Varies. Common business models.

BASIC PETROCHEM SOLDIERS/GUARDS (Solo) STATS: INT 5 to 8, REF 10/?, TECH 8, COOL 10, ATTR 6, LUCK 5, MA 9, BODY 8 to 10/?, EMP 7/?, SAVE 8 to 10, BTM -3 to -4. SKILLS: Combat Sense 6, Leadership 5 (noncoms/officers), Awareness/Notice 6, Expert Soldier 6, Expert Infantry Ops or Naval Ops 7, Hide/Evade 5, Wilderness Survival 4, Athletics 5, Dodge and Escape 5, Handgun 6, Rifle 7, Submachinegun 5, Melee 4, Karate 5, Heavy Weapons 5, Stealth 4, Driving 5, Pilot Aircraft (various) or Weaponsmith or Psychological Ops or Demolitions or other specialty skill 6.

SKILLS: Combat Sense 7, Leadership 5, Awareness/Notice 7, Expert Soldier 7, Expert Infantry Ops or Naval Ops 7, Expert Special Ops 7, Hide/Evade 6, Wilderness Survival 7, Interrogation 5, Resist Torture/Drugs 5, Athletics 6, Dodge and Escape 5, Handgun 7, Rifle 8, Submachinegun 6, Melee 6, Karate 6, Heavy Weapons 5, Stealth 6, Driving 5, Pilot Aircraft (various) or Weaponsmith or Psychological Ops or Electronic Security or Demolitions or other specialty skill 8. CYBERWARE: Varies. As required. GEAR: See Uniforms, Equipment and Personnel.

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MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

Note: See Uniforms, Equipment and Personnel for information on the Water Leopards. Water Leopards also get Resist Torture/Drugs 8, Interrogation 5, Intimidation 5, Stealth 5. Swimming 5, and Expert Rastafarian Mysticism 6.

CURRENT MARKETING STRATEGY AND PUBLIC RELATIONS CHOOH2

A large amount of Petrochems income conies from the sale of CHOOH2 to consumers. The fuel is relatively cheap to produce (as long as the harvest is good), and there is a substantial mark-up before it reaches retail. Petrochem uses different marketing tactics to make sure that sales of CHOOH2 stay high. Because it has a monopoly on the American market there is no need for it to compete with other producers, but it does run a large ad campaign aimed at promoting its CHOOH4U fuel stations. Ads run on television and radio, and billboards dot thousands of miles of highway. Unknown to the public, Petrochem also subsidizes the ad campaigns of many of the other fuel retailers that it wholesales CHOOH2 to. This is all part of Petrochems scheme to maintain the illusion that the American CHOOH2 market isn't really a monopoly. Overseas, Petrochem does have competitors, and it runs vigorous ad campaigns at all times. There are actually two separate international CHOOH2 campaigns. One touts the purity of Petrochem's fuels and espouses Petrochems long experience with CHOOH2 production. The other campaign is part of the ongoing public relations war with SovOil. The two companies put each other down ruthlessly as they compete for market shares. They also have frequent price wars in the European and Asian markets. Often, this results in CHOOH2 selling overseas for half of what it costs in the United States. Petrochem actively solicits large contracts to supply CHOOH2 to governments and corporations. These contracts provide the corporation with extra security, since wars and international tension tend to increase the demand for the fuel. PUBLIC RELATIONS

Like most corporations in 2020, Petrochem uses high-visibility tactics to keep its name and logo in the public consciousness. CHOOH4U stops are a major factor in the corporation's visibility as every station sports the company logo. Television and magazine ads plug the wide variety of services and products offered by the corporation, while at the same time, enormous lighted billboards and signs tower over the business districts of many major cities.

Petrochem's food production division is a major public relations boon. The corporation has an ongoing program under which it distributes surplus food stocks to poverty-stricken urban areas and grain to famine-stricken countries. The amounts are small compared the to corporation's overall budget, but they serve their purpose as far as public opinion is concerned. LOBBYING

In order to keep the demand for CHOOH2 high, Petrochem keeps a strong lobby in the governments of several countries. The corporation works to suppress the development of competing synthetic fuels and electric cars. It also works to undermine international support for fusion research, which could lead to reactors that will replace CHOOH2 power stations. Petrochem's international lobby is very powerful, but it meets with mixed success. CHOOH2 remains uncontested as the world fuel standard, but practical fusion power is still a high priority for many governments and the popular support for electric vehicles is growing as concern over the greenhouse effect increases. CHOOH2 burns cleanly in the sense that the major exhaust products are carbon dioxide and water, but carbon dioxide is still a pollutant in high levels. GENERAL PRODUCTS

Petrochem uses a variety of promotion tactics for its wide line of general chemical products. Ad campaigns for specific products and subsidiaries running on TV, radio, and in periodicals reach the general public, while competitive corporate bidding and marketing help the company to establish profitable largescale contracts for raw materials and chemical supplies. XOMA PHARMACEUTICALS

Xoma Pharmaceuticals has separate advertising and public relations campaigns aimed at handling the particulars of the pharmaceutical and medical research business. Xoma suffers from the same stigma that haunts many 21st century biological and biotechnical research houses: people are always suspicious of the products of biological and genetic engineering. Rumors about biological and chemical weapons production, bizarre animal research and strange drug experiments abound. The company faces the added complication that many of these rumors are true. Consequently, Xoma, like many other biotech companies, is always waging a huge campaign to improve its public image. Xoma plugs the many pharmaceutical advances made by the company, including new therapeutic drugs and vaccines. It also promotes animal welfare programs in order to cover for its experimentation and runs public vaccination programs in many of the same low income areas in which it secretly tests designer drugs and plagues. So far, the tactics have met with mixed results. The company has good sales, but people are still suspicious. 26

CORPORATE R E P O R T 2020: PETROCHEMICAL ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL

UNIFORMS, EQUIPMENT AND PERSONNEL

Western styles aren't universal among Petrochem employees. Women have more latitude than men, and tend to wear more diverse styles, and many of the young, up and coming executives have elected to stick with the current Eurotrends. Luckily for the fashion mavens, Petrochem is one of the few corporations where a little executive individuality is not frowned upon. The majority still stick to the boss' style, however. Petrochem executives may wear identifying pins, and many styles are available, including tie tacks, lapel pins, and brooches. Most forego the pins, however, and let their fashions do the talking. Executives are required to carry their company ID card at all times. This card encodes all of the bearer's employee data, along with applicable access restrictions and privileges. It also functions as a cardkey, as a credit/debit card for those employees who are with the company credit union, and as a Trauma Team card for those on the health plan. The company permits executives to carry sidearms on company property. There are no restrictions on what brands or models may be carried. Cyberware is also permitted, but, as with fashion, many Petrochem executives follow Trenton Parker's lead and stick with minimal enhancements. GUARDS Petrochem office guards are drawn from the ranks of die company's soldiers. Guard duty is considered a good assignment as it usually keeps one near a population center. 'Guards' refers to

A Petrochem executive meeting with a prospective client

PETROCHEM EXECUTIVES The dress style for executives in the home office is set by Trenton Parker. American-cut suits and fashions are the norm. Eurostyles are widely considered more cutting edge, but Trenton sticks to the older American styles that were popular in his youth. His concession to flair is western-style ornamentation. He frequently wears bolo ties and cowboy boots, and always carries die trusty Stetson that his father gave him on his twentyfirst birthday. Trent's western styles tend to be serviceable, not the gaudy trappings worn by many would-be cowboy executives. Other executives follow his lead, and western affectations over American-cut suits have become a Petrochem trademark. Even many European and Asian Petrochem executives wear western styles.

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MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

forego die nightsticks. Heavy weapons, riot gear, and body armor arc kept ready to go in die guard offices in case they are needed. XOMA GUARDS

Xoma Pharmaceuticals runs its guards a little differently than die parent company. The guards wear black jumpsuits, boots and gloves. They also wear SP 20 vests over their jumpsuits and black helmets with dark visors. The company logo appears on both shoulders, name on die right breast and rank on die collar tabs. Kits include radios, wrist binders, mace, monoknives, Enforcement 10 pistols with four magazines and either ARS-5C submachineguns with four magazines or MustangArms Raider 12 gauge riot shotguns. They subscribe to die intimidation school of guard work, and make no efforts to interact with the public. Xoma guards are not recruited from die Petrochem army, but hired separately and trained by Arasaka Security. They have similar skills and training to regular Petrochem guards. Xoma uses regular Petrochem soldiers when it needs fully-equipped troops. PETROCHEM'S MILITARY FORCES

those soldiers who are used in office buildings or other facilities where they are likely to interact with the public. In all other situations Petrochem uses regular soldiers (see below). Soldiers who are selected for guard duty get eight weeks of special training in urban combat, security systems, threat recognition, fire and bomb threat procedure, and public interaction. Petrochem guards have a different uniform and kit than regular soldiers. Enlisted guards wear khaki-colored pants and boots and khaki shirts and caps. They do not wear visible body armor, but do have SP 16 bulletproof vests under their uniform shirts. The management feels that the lack of visible armor makes the troops less intimidating to the public. This philosophy is the reverse of other companies, most of which want their guards to be as threatening as possible. The company logo appears on both shoulders, along with patches indicating which site the guard serves at. Name is on a badge on the right breast, and rank on the collar wings. Officers often wear plain clothes, usually navy blue blazers, white shirts, and grey slacks. The Petrochem logo is on the right breast and rank badges on the collar wings. They wear SP 16 vests under their clothes. There are no dress uniforms for guards. Enlisted guard equipment kits include night sticks, wrist binders, mace cannisters, headset radios, wraparound safety glasses with clear or smoked lenses, electric stunners, and flashlights. Most carry only Colt Enforcement 10 pistols with four magazines. Some carry MustangArms ARS-5C 10mm submachineguns. Officers

Because of its history of warfare, and die precious oil resources and huge tracts of agricultural land that it must protect, Petrochem has a large military force of 50,000 active duty soldiers. Although it has only half die troops of giants like Arasaka or Militech, Petrochem reserves all of its soldiers for in-house use. The company had an army of 100,000 during die Second Corporate War. Forty percent of Petrochem's soldiers are naval personnel or marine forces. SOLDIERS

Petrochem uses soldiers for military combat, special operations, and all security situations where die public is not a factor, including isolated manufacturing facilities, agricultural areas, docks, on shipboard, and so on. Soldiers rank from Private up to Colonel (die traditional top rank for corporate armies, with rare exception). Petrochem uses a variety of camouflage, but die default pattern is a custom beige scrub pattern which is designed for the golden CHOOH2 wheat fields. Troops in urban and industrial situation use black outfits. Other patterns include basic woodland and various types of night and special purpose camouflage. Soldiers wear die company logo on die right shoulder and their unit patch and specialty badges on die left. The name appears on die right breast and rank on die collar tabs. There arc no dress uniforms for soldiers. Soldiers who are stationed at fixed positions, such as farms, wear light kits, although they keep full kits on hand in case protracted fighting breaks out. The light kit includes die uniform, an SP 20 armor vest, an SP 20 helmet, water, a monoknife, a radio, a flashlight, a Colt Enforcement 10 sidearm with four magazines, and one of several possible other weapons. Main weapons include die MustangArms ARS-5C Submachinegun, the MA Raider 12 riot shotgun, the Colt M-18 assault weapon, and the Militech Renegade squad automatic weapon (see Corpbook Two). A variety of heavy weapons are also available. The full kit contains extra sup-

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CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: PETROCHEMICAL. ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL

unlikely to puncture ship and submarine hulls. Marine combat troops wear the same kit and outfit as terrestrial troops, except that their weapons are all stainless marine models and they have binoculars and the armor/flotation vest as part of their standard load. Marine troop uniforms sport the naval logo rather than the army one. THE WATER LEOPARDS The Water Leopards are Petrochem's special detachment of Jamaican terror troops. There are thirty members of the team, organized in three squads. The entire outfit is lead by Captain Andrew Weyland, known as Captain Boa Boa to his troops. The Water Leopards all sport dreadlocks, and many have beards. Most members of the group have elaborate light tattoos over their entire bodies. Many of the tattoos are in the form of Jamaican black magic symbols, some mimic ritual African tribal scarrings. Weyland's nickname conies from the intricate snakeskin pattern light-tattooed over his body. Water Leopards sport trademark yellow cybernetic eyes. They are an imposing group of men, and they use their knowledge of Rastafarian mysticism and traditional Caribbean black magic as tools of intimidation and terror. They have a widespread reputation as skilled, merciless troops.

THE WATER LEOPARDS ARE AN IMPOSING GROUP OF MEN, AND THEY HAVE A

plies that allow the soldier to fight in the field for extended periods: water, rations, sleeping materials, extra clothes, weapons maintenance tools, extra ammunition, binoculars, maps, and so on. There are other kits for special situations. NAVAL PERSONNEL One thing that sets Petrochem apart from many other corporations is its large navy. Many of Petrochem's precious oil reserves are at sea, including the delicate Submerged Drilling Projects off the coasts of California and Alaska. Petrochem's marine drilling rigs, submerged stations, seaport oil terminals, and refineries require constant naval protection. Petrochem's military has a naval arm with 20,000 personnel, including sailors, naval strategists, marines, and maritime special ops soldiers. Non-combat naval personnel have their own uniform: a belted, navy blue jumpsuit with rubber-soled boots and a blue cap. The Petrochem naval logo appears on the right shoulder, and the unit and specialty patches on the left shoulder. Rank is on the collar tabs. The naval equipment kit includes binoculars, safety glasses, a steel blade knife, and an SP 14 armor/flotation vest (see below). Naval personnel carry the marine stainless version of the Colt Enforcement 10 pistol. Special-duty Naval personnel usually carry the marine stainless model of the Mustang Arms Raider riot shotgun, which is

WIDESPREAD REPUTATION

AS SKILLED, MERCILESS TROOPS.

The Water Leopards serve land or sea duty as necessary. They have their own uniforms, weapons and kits. Their standard uniform is a dark, tiger-striped jump suit and a pistol belt. They seldom wear head protection, but in combat situations they will wear SP 18 body armor. They have a special panther logo that they wear on their left shoulder. It is the only marking on their uniform. Except for Boa Boa, there are no visible ranks within the unit; the men know who is senior to whom. In combat, the Leopards wear radios and carry Arasaka WSA pistols (P 0 J C 2D6+3(10mm) 15 2 VR 50m), WAA bullpup rifles (RIF +1 N C 5D6(5.56mm) 30 30 VR 400m), WMA Minami submachineguns, and M.A. Raider shotguns. They also have access to special weapons and heavy weapons when necessary. (See Corf book One for detailed information on the WSA and WAA)

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MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

The Leopards are used for special intimidation and assassination missions. They have a poor relationship with the regular army troops, and work with them only rarely. The Leopards were brought to Petrochem by Angus Youngblood, and at any given time he is guarded by two to four of them. Although the Leopards nominally work for Col. Shepard, their ultimate loyalty is to Youngblood. There are rumors that he has used them on company personnel who have crossed him. VEHICLES, EQUIPMENT AND WEAPONS COLT ENFORCEMENT 1O SIDEARM

scopes (+2 to single shots, only when aiming), laser designators (+1), and silencers (Awareness roll to hear). 600eb basic, 650eb camouflaged, 700eb custom camouflaged, + l00eb for scope, +100eb for laser designator, +50eb for silencer, +600eb smartchipped.

SMG +1 JC2D6+3(10mm) 403/40 VR 200m COLT M-18 ASSAULT WEAPON

This is Colt Firearms latest addition to its venerable line of automatic pistols. As its name suggests, the Enforcement 10 is targeted toward the military and law enforcement markets. Like the .45 auto, the Enforcement 10 is built on a solid, heavy frame which helps to absorb the recoil of the potent 10mm round. The receiver and slide are fashioned from Sortex™, a tough, high-density ceramic composite developed by Petrochem for use in firearms manufacture. (Sortex™ is also used by Arasaka, Militech and Clock Firearms.) The Enforcement 10 is the standard sidearm for all of Petrochem's security guards, soldiers, and naval personnel. It is corrosion and dirt-resistant and extremely reliable. Standard models come in matte black, blued metallic and marine stainless finishes. For an extra fee, the matte black Sortex™ receiver and slide can be made in one of several camouflage patterns. For a double fee, the gun can be made with a custom pattern. The patterns are integral in the Sortex™, and will not wear off. 550eb basic, 600eb camouflaged, 650eb custom camouflaged, +550eb smartchipped. P +1J C 2D6+3(10mm) 14 2 VR 50m

The M-18 is Colt Firearms' latest full-sized assault weapon, and the third item in their new full-spectrum personal weapons line. Colt has been hurting since the U.S. Armed Forces abandoned the .45 auto and the M-16 for Beretta, FN, and later, Militech weapons systems. The new line is Colt's bid to regain its stature as a military weapons supplier, and the bulwark of this line is the M18 rifle. The M-18 is a bullpup configuration weapon chambered for the common 5.56mm hyper-velocity round. It fires single shots, three round bursts, and fully automatically. Like the other weapons in the line, the M-18 has a stock, receiver, forearm and magazines fashioned from matte black Sortex. Unlike the other weapons, blued and metallic finishes are not available. Camouflage finishes are available, however, including custom designs. The M-18 comes stock with a quick-acquisition optical sight (+1 to basic WA, only when aiming). This can be replaced with scopes and laser designators. 750eb basic, 850eb camouflaged, 900eb custom camouflaged, +750eb smartchipped. RIF +1 N C 5D6(5.56mm) 35 3/30 VR 400m

MUSTANGARMS ARS-5C M.A.'s current model Submachinegun. Like the Enforcement 10, it is fashioned mostly from the advanced ceramic Sortex™, and available in matte black, blued, marine stainless and camouflage finishes. It is a new system for the young company, gaining popularity among law enforcement agencies and corporate armies. The ARS fires single shots, three round bursts, and fully automatically at a punishing rate. The ARS is available with full and collapsible stocks, and with a variety of accessories including detachable

MUSTANGARMS RAIDER RIOT SHOTGUN The Raider is standard design semi-automatic 12 guage shotgun. It feeds from a five-round tube magazine and operates on blowback. The barrel, receiver and magazine are steel; the stock and forearm are matte black Sortex. The Raider is not available in camouflage finishes, but it does come with an optional folding stock and in a stainless marine version. The Raider uses an oldfashioned tube magazine, but it does have one innovation. The magazine can load one shell at a time from the bottom of the

CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: PETROCHEMICAL ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL

receiver, like a conventional shotgun, or the entire tube can be ditched and replaced in a matter of seconds. The tubes are somewhat awkward to carry, but they are valuable in a crisis. An advantage of the Raider is that the folding stock model can be concealed under a long coat. Options include extra magazines, a four-round magazine extension (not usable with replaceable magazines), interchangeable barrels with different lengths, chokes, and sights, laser designators, and scopes and optical sights for use with slugs and special loads. 400eb basic, 25eb per magazine, 50eb per barrel, 50eb for extended magazine, -t-400eb smartchipped. SHT 0 L C 4D6(00) 5/9 2 ST 50m BALLISTEX MARINE SURVIVAL VEST

This is the armor vest worn by Petrochem naval personnel. It has been designed specifically for use by naval and special ops troops who arc at risk of being injured in or around the water. The vest has layers of bullet-resistant fabric and thin ceramic plate over four inflatable bladders made of puncture-resistant Kevlar fiber. Four small CO chargers individually inflate each of the bladders: left chest, right chest, left back and right back. The vest can be inflated with a tug on a ripcord or it can be set to inflate automatically within two seconds of immersion in water. It takes full immersion to operate the automatic setting. A special sensor ensures that splashes and rain will not do it. There is a quick release buckle that allows the wearer to ditch the vest in water or on land. The vest is SP 14. The Kevlar bladder panels are are SP 5, but they are exposed only when the vest is inflated. The vest can support a 250 pound person, head out of water, for up to 3D 10+20 hours. The vest can only support a few pounds of metal or other dense material. It comes in a variety of colors and camouflage patterns. Uninflated, the vest is EV +1. Inflated it is EV +4. A bladder will be punctured if the vest takes 10 points of damage in one hit. Determine whether the wearer was hit in the chest or back and roll randomly to sec which side the hit was on. The vest loses 1/4 of its flotation power for every bladder punctured. If all of the bladders are punctured the vest becomes -2 to Surimmings\ull. If a character takes a hit while wearing an inflated vest, there is a 50%

chance that an exposed bladder panel will be hit. There is always a 10% chance that one panel will fail to inflate under normal use. Occasionally (5%) a CO charger will take a hit and explode, doing 1/2D6 extra damage to the wearer. Once inflated, the vest must be professionally treated and re-packed. There are a lot of catches to the vests, but they can save the life of a character who takes a hit and falls into the water. 250eb. 30eb to re-pack. IEC OIl. TANKER SUBMARINES Petrochem has ten of the huge IEC cargo submarines (see Corpbook One), but it has had them converted into oil tankers. With oil the precious resource that it is, the company doesn't like to risk transporting it on surface ships vulnerable to attack and sabotage. The submarines are nuclear-powered behemoths ranging from 200 to 250 long with crews of 30 to 50. Periscope depth is 30m. Top surface speed is 70km/hr, top submerged speed is 60km/hr. Maximum operating depth is 750m. Top silent submerged speed is 40km/hr. They have four screws and front and rear lateral jets for harbor maneuvering. The subs have conning towers towards the rear of the hull and fully enclosed bridges with windows. The windows are shuttered below 200m, but they are left open at lesser depths for underwater viewing. Submarine tankers can carry several million barrels of oil, and they can onload and offload at any terminal designed to service surface tankers. In addition, special design modifications make it possible for the subs to load oil at submerged terminals up to 250m below the surface. Minisubs are used to hook up and release the pipelines. Since salt water is used as ballast in the cargo tanks when the subs are empty, there is usually some mixing when the subs load oil. Most of the waste water is removed by bottom pumps, and the rest is separated during refining. The subs can carry enough provisions to remain at sea for up to six months, and their reactors need be refueled once every four or five years. The subs are extremely quiet, and they are equipped with torpedoes, mines, and surface to air missiles for defense. Some are designed to carry cargo as well as oil. The hulls are 80 SP and 5000 SDP. The conning towers are 50 SP. SHIRAKAWA RESEARCH INDUSTRIES SUBMERSIBLES Shirakawa Research Industries is a small Japanese company that makes, among other things, small submersibles for research and industry. These are battery-powered vehicles which range in size from 5m to 10m long. Most rake a crew of one or two, and some can carry up to fifteen passengers. Many of the models have manipulator arms on them, and all are capable of reaching depths of up to 400m. All have universal docking collars on them so they can mate with the stations or any military or cargo submarine. Larger models have airlocks for divers. Petrochem uses the subs to ferry employees between surface support ships and the Submerged Drilling Project sites off the coasts of California and Alaska, to conduct exterior repairs on the stations, and to connect and disconnect the station's oil umbilical hoses from the submarine tankers. 31

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH SHIRAKAWA TYPE 1 A small submersible used for outside inspection, light repair and crew shuttling. Length: 5m. Crew:!.

Manipulators: 2, small. Passengers: 1. Battery: 12hrs. Speed: 20km/hr. Oxygen Endurance: 12hrs at capacity. Hull: 40 SP, 60 SDP. No airlock. SHIRAKAWA TYPE 2 A medium sized workhorse submersible used for equipment ferrying, crew shuttling, and heavy repair and manipulation. Length: 7m. Crew:!. Manipulators: 2 small, 2 large. Passengers: 5Battery: 18hrs. Speed: 16km/hr. Oxygen Endurance: l6hrs at capacity. Hull: 40 SP, 80 SDP. Diving airlock. SHIRAKAWA TYPE 3

A large submersible used primarily for crew and equipment transfer and emergency evacuation. Also can be used for heavy repair and manipulation, but it is unwieldy to pilot at close quarters. Length: 10m.

Crew 2. Manipulators: 2, large. Passengers: 10. Battery: 20hrs. Speed: 16km/hr. Oxygen Endurance: 12hrs at capacity. Hull: 45 SP, 100 SDR Diving airlock. WELLINGTON LTD. HEAVY DIVESUIT This is the suit used by the crews of Petrochem's Submerged Drilling Projects. It is an industry standard for underwater engineering, research and construction. Several models are available, but Petrochem generally uses the deep model DS-4. The DS-4 consists of a 7mm dry suit made of a special insulating material (developed by Petrochem), a backpack unit, and an airtight helmet. The backpack contains two high-compression air cylinders, a broadcasting unit, and a battery. The helmet connects to a ring on the suit, and has a microphone and headset, dual regulators, and a wraparound facemask for good visibility. Accessories include lights, tools, and buoyancy control devices. The suit is available in free-swimming or bottom-walking configurations. The rechargeable battery is good for ten hours. The air supply endurance depends on the depth. With special breathing mixtures, the suit is good to the limit of human endurance.

SNB Patrol Boat at battle speed SNB FAST PATROL BOAT The SNB Fast Patrol Boat is the mainstay of Petrochem's naval forces. It is an open sea vessel, 18m long, powered by a CHOOH2 turbine engine. It takes a standard crew of twenty, including ten sailors and ten marine soldiers. The ship has ten bunks, a small rec room, an armory, a wardroom and galley, supply rooms, and an enclosed pilot house. There is a twin 25mm autocannon (HVY +2 N R 6D10[25mm expl.] 1000 40 VR 800m) in a radar-guided bow turret, and .50 caliber (HVY -1 N R 4D10[.50cal] 200 10 ST 400m) machine guns can be mounted on the flying bridge and both side rails. The ship can also carry a variety of missiles and depth charges. Sea going range is 1500 miles, top speed is 60km/hr. Standard equipment includes sonar/anti-submarine and radar/anti-aircraft suites. Hull: 30 SP, 150 SDP. Superstructure: 20SP, 60 SDR PARACAINE Paracaine is a recent innovation from Xoma Pharmaceuticals; a battlefield euphoriant/anesthetic that blocks the pain and terror

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CORPORATE REPORT 2020: PETROCHEMICAL. ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL.

Petrochem home towers, Dallas-Ft. Worth suburbs from major injuries while allowing the soldier to remain alert for evacuation or continued fighting. Previously, soldiers seriously injured on the battlefield were given Morphine, which blocked the pain, but also left the soldier incapable of action. Now, with Paracainc, a seriously or mortally-wounded soldier can ignore the pain and stress from major injuries and continue activity for up to thirty minutes or until die physical effects of his injury bring him down, whichever comes first. Side effects: compounding of injuries from movement, fatal or debilitating nerve damage (1D6 to INT and REF, 10% chance), and psychosis and hallucinations (10% chance per dose). Caution: repeated doses or overdoses can cause fatal nerve damage (+10% chance of death for each administration within one day). Game effects: +5 to Stun/Shock Saves, no pain for thirty minutes. No fear from injury. Full alertness. Type: Painkiller/euphoriant, strength +5. Duration: 30 minutes. Difficulty: This drug can not be made by characters. Cost 1000eb. PRIAPAN SPRAY Another Xoma Drugs concoction, Priapan is an emergency medical spray available on the open market. The spray forms a temporary, antiseptic, waterproof skin over exposed injuries, allowing a hurt

individual to be transported to a hospital or clinic. The spray contains anesthetics and coagulants, and sticks to dry skin but not to exposed flesh or bone. It can be painlessly removed with a sterile solvent. The spray is commonly carried by paramedics. Game effects: +2 to stabilization rolls, +1 to Stun/Sock Saves. Available in 1,5 and 10 application sizes at 10, 30 and 50cb. One application will cover approximately 400 cm . Priapan skin lasts about two hours.

KEY OFFICES AND FACILITIES THE PETROCHEM HEADQUARTERS TOWERS Petrochems world headquarters complex is on the outskirts of Irving, a Texas corporate suburb in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex, just a few minutes drive from downtown Dallas. The buildings arc relatively recent, having been constructed to replace the old Parker Petrochemicals headquarters in 2006. Many of the Metroplex's once proud corporate sectors have fallen on hard times since the death of the American petroleum industry. The old oil company buildings have been leased piecemeal, sold, or just left to decay. Some areas still thrive, but most of the new buildings belong to agricorps and foreign high-tech corporations.

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MERRILL, ASUKAGA & PINCH ARCHITECTURE AND LAYOUT The Petrochem headquarters complex is really two separate towers, connected underground. The towers are angled slightly towards one another, with the main faces designed to create the illusion of a reflection. A mirror-image pattern of alternating rows of reflective and tinted windows helps to complete the illusion. Even the company logo is mirror imaged on the towers. There is also a large reflecting pool in the plaza in front of the buildings. The overall effect is quite striking. At night, powerful floodlights shine straight up from the roofs of the towers, reaching into the night sky over Irving. The two buildings are called Tower One and Tower Two. The company owns several acres of land around die towers, and the complex stands alone. Although there are several nearby industrial buildings, the nearest other tower of any size is a kilometer away. A U-shaped road leads off the local highway, around die reflecting pool, past the fronts of both towers, and back to the highway. The road has exits for the loading docks behind each tower, the surface parking area, underground parking area, and a side road leading to a few other small company buildings in the area. The plaza and area around the towers have been pleasantly landscaped for relief from the arid scrub which lines most of die highway. There are picnic tables and recreation areas for use by company employees. INTERIORS AND FACILITIES Tower One, on the left, is the actual corporate headquarters, with the executive and board offices, the military command centers, and the liaison offices for all of the company branches and subsidiaries. Tower Two contains the headquarters for the subsidiaries Continental Agricorp and Petrochem Oil Technologies, and die regional office for Xoma Pharmaceuticals and a few other large subsidiaries. Born die towers have pads for helicopters, vectored thrust, and tiltrotor aircraft. There are loading docks at die rear of each tower. Beneath die plaza there is a large, subterranean area that links the two towers. The subterranean area includes a secure parking and vehicle area, a troop barrack and firing range, a secure infirmary with operating rooms, hardened shelters, a hardened military and security command post, an armory, lecture halls, and a cafeteria. The towers are similar in interior decor and layout. The lobbies of the two buildings are almost identical. Each has a wide, recessed entrance, and each is high-ceilinged and painted and carpeted in light, airy colors. Photos and paintings depicting Old West and oil-business history line the walls, and there are scale models of Petrochem ships, oil platforms, and CHOOH2 refineries. At the rear of each lobby are long, curved counters with security posts, information stations and master receptionists. Banks of elevators are on the left and right sides of the desks. Further forward, near the windows, there are waiting areas with small groups of chairs and couches arranged around coffee tables. Each lobby has a centerpiece statue. In Tower One, it's Sam Houston. In Tower Two, it's Davy Crockett. The pleasant decor continues throughout the buildings.

Aside from the central facilities under die plaza, each tower has separate staff and executive cafeterias, a gymnasium, conference rooms, lecture halls, labs, a small infirmary, computer centers, security command centers, a communications center, and staff and executive recreation centers. Always conscious of public image, Petrochem also has a public information center and an education center in Tower One. Both are open to die general public. The information center dispenses non-classified information on Petrochem projects, products and plans, as well as basic information on the history of the company. The education center holds forums for local youth and adult groups, with lectures on die history of Petroleum and die development of CHOOH2, as well as die technology involved with each. The headquarters keeps military and civilian vehicle pools, with a ready stockpile of jeeps, armored cars and troop transports for security, and armored limousines, regular company cars, and shuttle busses for employees. Air resources include three to four AV-4s, three Ospreys, and two helicopters. There are always one or two company executive jets at die Dallas-Love International Airport. PERSONNEL Tower One has the permanent offices for Trenton Parker, Rita Redhawk Brodie, Col. Shepard, die military chiefs of staff, and the board of directors. Tower Two has the offices for die Presidents of Continental Agricorp and Petrochem Oil Technologies, and the company liaison from Xoma Pharmaceuticals. There are 100 security guards on station at all times, and Petrochem billets a brigade of troops only few miles away. Eight thousand people work at die complex on a daily basis. SECURITY In accordance with the public relations plan, die security at die towers is kept discreet. Enlisted guards monitor die plaza, and die lobbies and secure areas of each tower, but most arc armed only with pistols. There are always heavily armed and armored strike teams on call for emergencies. Plainclothes officers supervise die enlisted guards. Guards always travel in teams of two or more. A network of cameras and microphones surveys the plaza, subterranean areas, surrounding roads, and secure areas. All information is relayed back to die central security control area under die plaza. The security center also has control over all of die tower external and locking interior doors. REGIONAL OFFICES Petrochem has regional offices in cities across the globe. There is little standardization among the offices; each has its own style of construction and decor. Security arrangements and the company logo are the two things that change little from site to site. Major Petrochem offices can be found in New York, Washington D.C., Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Night City, Tokyo, London, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Paris, Rome, Sydney, and several other cities. 34

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH XOMA PHARMACEUTICALS

The Xoma Pharmaceuticals headquarters is located in Night City, where the subsidiary was founded. The building is a relatively small, black and white, four story structure in an office park in South Night City. The building sits in a fenced and patrolled area, all of which is off limits to anyone not wearing a Xoma or Petrochem ID or carrying a badge. Three hundred people work at the Xoma headquarters, 200 researchers and technicians, and 100 hundred management, staff and security. There are always twenty-two troops on duty in the building; four in die lobby, six patrolling the grounds, ten patrolling die building, and two at the gate. More troops can be called up within a few minutes. The interior decor of the building is extremely stylish and high tech. All access is tightly monitored. Facilities include an infirmary, armory, security center, cafeteria, and labs. There is always an Osprey on call on one of the two roof-top helipads.

THE SUBMERGED DRILLING PROJECT The Submerged Drilling Project is Petrochem's program to develop new technologies for undersea oil recovery. Submerged platforms have three advantages over conventional surface platforms: they can operate in slightly deeper areas, they are unaffected by weather, and most critically, they are much less vulnerable to attack from the surface. Petrochem has two operating undersea platforms: SDPR (Submerged Drilling Project Rig) One and SDPR Two. SDPR One, off of Alaska, is at 171

meters depth. SDPR Two, off of the California coast near Night City, is at 130 meters. The SDPR platforms were created by SeaRig Inc., a division of Petrochem's Oil Technologies subsidiary. They are designed to operate at depths of up to 250 meters. Air inside die SDPRs is kept at die same pressure as die water outside, making it possible to widistand die crushing weight of a 250m water column. The atmosphere is a special, nitrogen-free blend of oxygen and inert gases designed to prevent nitrogen narcosis and decompression sickness. Unfortunately, because of die extreme depth and die duration of die tours, it is still necessary for crew journeying to or from die surface to compress and decompress and undergo mixture adjustment for long periods of time. Potential crew are carefully screened, as some people can't tolerate die pressure and die physiological effects of working under saturation for long periods of time. Each SDPR is staffed by a crew of thirty-two: twenty-two oil workers and engineers, five security personnel, three medical personnel, and two researchers. Crews work in alternating 12 hour shifts. Each rig is commanded by a senior engineer, with another engineer and a security man as the second and third officers. The command crew reports to a surface-based Corporate from die Oil Technologies division, who reports in turn to Byron Yun, Director of Oil Technologies. Yun reports directly to Trenton Parker and die board of directors. The SDPRs are in constant communication with the surface. At any given time, each may or may not have a support ship or a naval vessel over-

THE SUBMERGED DRILLING PROJECT

LOWER LEVEL

UPPER LEVEL.

36

CORPORATE REPORT 2020: PETROCHEMICAL ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL. head, depending on whether there is a crew shift-change, technical problem, or security situation under way. Shirts are one month on and one month off. The rigs are designed to be self sufficient for periods of up to a year. Each has a nuclear reactor for power, large food stores, water desalinators, and facilities for recycling air and human waste. There are only 18 bunks in each rig, since half the crew should always be on duty. Only the commander has his own room. Each rig has a power/battery room, two compression/ decompression chambers, a wardroom, a galley, an infirmary/ lab, a recreation room, an engineering workshop, a drilling room and drilling engine, a storage area, and a diving/submersible hangar with an open pool, airlocks, and docking collars (see maps). The pumping area is slightly removed from the main area, and connected by pipes to a large, underwater tank farm. The tanks are filled with sea water when not in use. Near each rig is a large area which has been planed flat by undersea tractors. The flat-bottomed tanker submarines can rest on these areas as they take on oil from the tank farms. Most of the time, however, oil is pumped to onshore terminals through standard underwater pipelines. Each rig has several Shirakawa Minisubs, and a SeaTrack (a battery powered undersea tractor that can maintain the sub berths). Each rig also has several unmanned ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles) that are used for light repair, survey, and surveillance work. The ROVs are connected to the station by 1000m cables. SDPR SUPPORT SHIPS

Petrochem has two SDPR support ships, the P.C.S. Zeus and the P.C.S. Apollo. They arc large, nuclear-powered ships used to ferry submersibles, supplies, and personnel from the mainland to the SDPR platforms. Support ships have landing pads for VTOL aircraft, hangars and cranes for submersibles, decompression chambers, and cables which can be lowered to the SDPRs to provide emergency air and power. They are 150m long, crewed by 500 men each, and have infirmaries, recreation areas, conference rooms, secure offices, movie theaters, and all die other facilities usually found on large ships. Each is usually escorted by patrol boats, and each has fifty marine security troops on board. Support ships are on station about 50% of the time. FARMS

Petrochem has huge farms devoted entirely to the cultivation of T. Megasuavis for CHOOH2. Farms can cover thousands of square kilometers, with buildings concentrated in a few scattered locations. The huge fields are crisscrossed with paved roads, dirt service roads, and irrigation ditches and pipes. Most farms have a remote outpost for every one hundred square kilometers of field. ROs have small security squads (usually no more than five to ten men), monitoring posts, huge silos for harvested grain, a garage for the automated combine harvesters, tractors and grain trucks that run in that area, and facilities for the workers that operate and service the machinery.

Each farm also has a command center which coordinates the planting, pest control, harvesting, and transport duties of the remote outposts. The command center has a large army garrison, and the offices for the farm director and security coordinator. If the farm is in a remote area, the center will also have recreation and sleeping facilities for farm staff. There is usually a small airfield near the command center for crop dusting, corporate and security aircraft. Unlike the remote outposts, which are usually Quonset or cinderblock structures, command centers are slick, modern buildings. Command centers also have large vehicle pools, including tractors, harvesters, grain trucks, security jeeps, company cars, and other vehicles. Security at farms is provided by the Petrochem Army, not the Guard Corps. Farms are often fenced, but not always. All farms have a network of hidden cameras, thermal sensors, microphones, radar, and motion detectors. The fields are also dotted with tall poles which give some cameras and radars a wide view. The poles also have loudspeakers. Sensors are monitored from remote stations and the command center. Troops are on call to respond to any threat. Depending on their size, farms can have from 20 to 500 troops on duty or on call. Total workers can be from forty to several thousand. Harvested grain is stored in secure silos, then refined on site or transported to refineries in huge, heavily-armed convoys escorted by soldiers in armored vehicles. The farms are Petrochem's main source of income, and the corporation guards them jealously. Intruders usually get one warning from the elevated loudspeakers. If they do not immediately leave or surrender themselves, the security forces will attack them from the air or ground. If the farm is under alert, or the intruders look dangerous, the security troops may attack without warning. REFINERIES

Fermenteries might be a better term for most of the plants, but the name is applied to all of the huge fuel processing stations, whether they use wheat or oil. Refineries are huge structures, with tank farms, refining towers, sumps, pumping stations, yeast farms, fermentation vats, filtering arrays, catalyzing tanks, power plants, furnaces, and docks, all connected by thousands of miles of pipeline. They can cover up to a square mile or more, and be staffed by several thousand personnel. Most of Petrochem's refineries are sea-front, to facilitate the loading of refined CHOOH2 onto the tanker ships and submarines which carry it around the world, and to minimize the overland travel of the precious oil recovered by the offshore drilling rigs and SDPR platforms. These huge oil terminals and docks require even more personnel. The oil terminals are huge piers built several hundred meters offshore, in relatively sheltered, shallow water. The piers are connected to land by elevated roadways and huge pipes. Tankers and submarines can heave to at the terminals and load or unload grain, oil, and CHOOH2.

37

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH 1 Personnel Records 2 Security Records 3 Communication Records 4 Research Records 5 Research Records 6 Research Records 7 Maintenance Records 8 Executive Priority Records 9 General Long Distance Link 10 Lab Manipulators 11 Lab Manipulators 12 Flatline 13 Pit Bull 14 General Printer 15 Elevator Control 16 Lab Camera 17 Watchdog 18 Dragon 19 General Terminals 20 Company Long Distance Link 21 Hellbolt 22 Personnel Doors 23 Watchdog 24 Security / Executive Printers 25 Video Boards 26 Knockout 27 Vehicle Loading Doors 28 Viral 15 29 Alarms 30 Hellhound 31 Security Microphones / Lab Transmission 32 Security Cameras 33 Security / Executive Priority Terminals 34 Elevator Controls (Freight / Loading Elevators) 35 Program Management / Security 36 Program Management / Security 37 Program Management / Security 38 Program Management / Security

DATA FORTRESSES

The complexity and importance of the refineries makes them key targets for sabotage and attack. Refineries boast some of the tightest security to be found in the Petrochem Corporation, and all access is tightly controlled. The largest refineries, which process oil as well as CHOOH2, have upwards of 1000 troops, although 100-500 is common at most facilities. Troops are always on alert status, and all refineries are fenced, and scanned by cameras, IR monitors, microphones, guard stations, and fire detectors. Security at refineries is provided by the Petrochem Army and Navy, and coordinated out of hardened, underground bunkers. There arc always several armed and armored vehicles and aircraft at the disposal of the security troops.

nonexplosive weapons such as gases and drug loads whenever possible. Those refineries which have marine terminals and docks also have naval forces, usually patrol boats with marine troops on board.

Fire is a chief concern at refineries, and certain detachments of security troops have been trained and assigned to serve primarily as firefighters. Troops in refineries prefer to use shotguns, and use safety rounds in their other weapons whenever possible. A bullet in the wrong place can turn a refinery into an inferno. (Safety rounds: double damage to unprotected flesh, but only 1/4 damage to armor or any solid substance. No ricochets or indirect shots.) They will also use

Roadside stops just like gas stations, except that they sell CHOOH2 instead of gasoline. Some also offer a variety of maintenance services and general automotive supplies. Selfservice or full-service is available, depending on how much you want to pay. They're usually manned by three or four pump staff, and possibly mechanics. All operate 24 hours a day. Those stations in high-risk areas may have armed guards. All have video surveillance and a pay-first policy.

Most refineries are located near population centers, so crews don't usually live on-site. Security troops are the exception to that rule. For the benefit of the troops, and those employees who do have to stay on-site, refineries have gymnasiums and recreation centers, armories, fire stations, cafeterias, barracks, company stores, pads for all types of VTOL aircraft, and vehicle parks. CHOOH-4U

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CORPORATE REPORT 2020: PETROCHEMICAL. ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL.

COMPANY COMPUTER SYSTEM A N D DATA FORTRESSES PETROCHEM COMPUTERS

Like all major corporations, Petrochem's computers are the storehouse for all of its precious information and records, and the key to all of its facilities and bases. So, like other corporations, Petrochem goes to great lengths to safeguard its computers against intrusion, sabotage and breakdown. The first step is to use only top-notch equipment and software. Petrochem uses a network of highlyregarded mainframes, including Microtech SARTA and SATAC and EBM Series 11000 systems. The datafortress software is by Skalderviken SA of Sweden, and the Net interface software is a custom design by EBM's Netshare division. The security design is by Arasaka. Petrochem's combined mainframes have thousands of MU and tens of processors, but limited interaction keeps the processors from combining to form an AI. With the exception of the villa (see below), no single fortress or subfortress has more than three processors or 12 basic MU. Some have expanded MU, which does not need to be run by a separate processor. LAYOUT

Many corporations have one large datafortress for their headquarters. This allows a corporation to invest a great deal in creating one extremely tough fortress, but once a Netrunner cracks it, everything they may want is accessible. As long as the invading Netrunner can circumvent anti-personnel and intrusion software, he or she can rummage through the system almost at will. Petrochem uses a different layout for its main datafortress; a system called Shifting Geometry. Each part of the central fortress has its own subfortress. The exterior size and shape, of each subfortress is the same, and the group occupies a constant area in Net space, but each has a different internal layout and set of contents. The subfortresses are connected only by hardwired data transfer lines packed with lethal programs and accessible only from within one of the subfortresses. There are subfortresses for Security, Military, CHOOH2, Oil, Subsidiaries, Data Transfer, and General Database. The subfortresses are rearranged periodically so that it is impossible for Netrunners to keep a record of which is which. Unless he or she has inside information, a 'Runner will have to shoot blind to find the subfortress with the correct information. The trade-off for the system is that each subfortress is weaker and smaller than one large data fortress would be, but invading Netrunners must take more risks and more time to find the data they want. No one subfortress has more than three processors or 12 MU.

REGIONAL DATA FORTRESSES Only the main datafortress uses the shifting geometry pattern. The regional fortresses are more conventional. They stand alone, and are easier to penetrate. The regional datafortresses are the same shape and size as the subfortresses for the main system, but there is less useful information inside them. Black ICE and detection ICE are common. (See the sample.) No regional datafortress has more than three processors or 12 MU. THE VILLA Ellen Trieste's villa, in the ESA Crystal Palace orbital, has its own, discrete computer system. This system contains all of Trieste's personal records and data, and it supports her thirty-two MU, world-scale virtual reality and braindancc interface. The mainframe is three linked, dual-processor Microtech SATAC 2 advanced computers, for a total of six processors and 24 MU. The AARAM (Adaptive Architecture RAM) memory that supports the virtual reality is contained in two 16 MU Microtech AARAM auxiliary memory banks. (Auxiliary memory banks add memory, but use limited processors capable of memory management only. They do not increase system intelligence, only available storage space.) ADRIAN

The villa computer system has six linked processors with a total intelligence of 18. Trieste had Microtech AI support architecture built into the system, and the result was ADRIAN (it is customary to capitalize the name of an AI). ADRIAN is not a spontaneous AI; he was created with the AI architecture to meet Ellen Trieste's requirements. ADRIAN oversees the entire villa computer system and the villa itself. He is tied into the data files, and the security and environmental systems, and has full access to the Petrochem main computer system via Long Distance Link. ADRIAN is separate from the main Crystal Palace computer system, and must access it through regular channels. ADRIAN is completely loyal to Trieste, and to Trieste only. He responds to her every whim, and can communicate with her either through the VR braindancc or through a system of cameras and microphones throughout the Villa. He can also communicate with Petrochem employees on Earth via regular computer terminals and cybernetic interfaces. ADRIAN accompanies Trieste on her adventures in her custom VR, and in virtual conference situations. ADRIAN is human in appearance, and the AI plays her faithful valet. Youngblood and ADRIAN have a cordial relationship, but the Australian secretly dislikes and distrusts the AI. ADRIAN'S basic personality is stable, intelligent and businesslike, but he is capable of simulating emotions in order to please Ellen Trieste. To intruding or authorized Netrunners his ICON can appear either as abstract geometric forms or as the human valet character from the VR. 39

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH Petrochem's 380 billion eb is divided into a number of holdings. 160 billion represents the company's CHOOH2 holdings and sales, 100 billion is various other real estate and durable goods, including the fleets and oil projects, 60 billion is the projected value of Petrochem's oil reserves, 45 billion represents subsidiaries, 10 billion is investments and cash reserves, and 5 billion is miscellaneous holdings. Although Petrochem has a smaller net worth than many other megacorporations, it is actually in a stronger financial position than several because it has no large banking arm, and only a small share of its assets are in the form of debts and liens held.

STOCK

Detail of a Good Earth Foods (Petrochem subsidiary) advertisement

RESOURCES, STOCK AND

SUBSIDIARIES Petrochem ranks behind several other megacorps in size, assets, and overall value, but its high CHOOH2 sales and precious oil reserves make it one of the richest and most important companies in 2020. Petrochem also owns more land and more vehicles than many other corporations, and maintains larger armed forces. It has a number of diverse and widespread subsidiaries, including the powerful and wealthy Xoma Pharmaceuticals and the vast Continental Farms Agricorp. VALUE OF THE CORPORATION

Petrochem's total value in assets is 381 billion Eurobucks, putting it in the number 8 slot in C Magazine's index of the top ten corporations. Petrochem is aiming for a spot in the top five, and figures that the discovery of a few new oil fields could give diem the push they need. Petrochem needs an additional 50 billion in net assets to push into the top five, but competition is stiff, with several other companies, including Militech and SovOil, in the running for the same slot.

Petrochem is a public corporation with 402 million shares of common stock. Petrochem's stock fluctuates in response the CHOOH2 harvest, the state of relations with SovOil, discovery or depletion of oil reserves, the fortunes of its privately held subsidiaries (Xoma, Continental Agricorp, etc.), and other market forces such as the US and EEC prime rates and national and world-wide military and economic tensions. It is believed that a major oil find might cause the stock to increase dramatically, and possibly to split, and many investors are staking fortunes on this. The current stock price is 110 eb per share. Over the past few years, the price has fluctuated between 79 and 121 eb per share. The all time low came in 2010 after defeat at the hands of SovOil, when company stock traded for 52 eb per share, down from a pre-war high of 99. Even these days, ten years later, war speculation is enough to cause the stock to tumble. Ellen Trieste is the major shareholder, with an 11% share currently worth over 5 billion eb. Trenton Parker is a close second with a 9% share worth just under 4 billion. Angus Youngblood owns a 7.5%, 3.3 billion share. Other senior board members have shares ranging from 7% down to .4%. The thirty senior board members account for 33% of common shares, and represent much of the voting power. The 100 junior board members control another 20%. Some of the senior and junior board seats are held by representatives of subsidiary and independent corporations that own significant shares of Petrochem stock. The largest corporate holding is a cross-ownership share of 6.2% held by Xoma Pharmaceuticals, which is in turn wholly owned by Petrochem. The combined junior and senior boards have a 53% controlling share. The remaining 47% is owned by private investors, mutual funds, and unrelated corporations. The average share held by a Petrochem senior board member is 1.1%, with a value of about 484 million eb. Most of the senior board members are billionaires or representatives of corporations with interests in Petrochem. The average share of a Petrochem junior board member is .2%, worth about 88 million eb. Many board members are partisan, backing either Ellen Trieste or Trent Parker. 40

CORPORATE REPORT 2020: PETROCHEMICAL ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL

RESOURCES: MANPOWER Petrochem and its subsidiaries employ just over 400,000 people world-wide. Fifty thousand of these are armed forces personnel, ten thousand serve in various merchant marine positions, forty thousand work at CHOOH2 or oil refining and/or drilling facilities, forty thousand work on CHOOH2 farms around the word, twenty thousand work on various other Continental Farms Agricorp facilities, eighty thousand work as executives, researchers and staff at Petrochem offices and facilities, and 150 thousand work for various subsidiary companies and chains. A huge 60,000 work for die 7,000 unit, world-wide CHOOH4U chain.

Petrochem also has a large number of true subsidiary companies, protected by die usual web of cross-ownership and cross-investment. Just a few of Petrochem's subsidiaries are: Xoma Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; CHOOH4U, Inc.; SeaRig, Inc.; Continental Farms Agricorp, International; Good Earth Foods; International Hydro-Technologies (pumping and pipelines); PetroTech Auto Parts; Loomis Advanced Electronic Research; Moo-Moo Burger; Zany-Cola; Triti-Fizz; Hydro-Chem, Inc.; Goman Pharmaceuticals; Sleep King Mattresses; Col-R-Boy Paints; Coastal Engineering and Construction Company; Nanosystems Inc; and the Dallas Cowboys football team. There are many more.

RESOURCES: HARDWARE Petrochem owns ten IEC Tanker Submarines, 40 other huge cankers and freighters, 200 SNB Fast Patrol Boats, 40 various Shirakawa Submersibles, and 350 other naval vessels of varying size, from tiny outrider boats to large naval transports. Petrochem maintains its huge fleet because it is suspicious of sending its valuable oil and CHOOH2 cargoes via commercial shippers like IEC or Sato. Petrochem also has a large supply of transport, military and executive aircraft. The company owns seventeen C-25 heavy cargo aircraft (see Corpbook One), 180 executive and military tilt-rotor aircraft, 100 executive and military helicopters, 205 AV-4s, thirty AVX Viper combat aerodynes (see Corpbook Two), twenty executive aircraft, and a number of other miscellaneous aircraft. The company keeps a storehouse of other military materiel, including artillery, armored and unarmored combat vehicles, missiles, and heavy weapons. It also has large supplies of general items, such as trucks, cars, computers, farm and security equipment, and communications gear. RESOURCES: BLACK Aside from its potent military forces and secret agents, Petrochem has black resources, such as powerful viral agents that attack all strains of T. Megasuavis and the CHOOH2 fermentation yeast, Saccharomyces prestoni. Courtesy of Xomas groundbreaking work, and die company's strong ties to Biotechnica, Petrochem also has access to a wide variety of chemical and biological warfare agents and combat drugs. SUBSIDIARIES

Petrochem's unifying corporate body is die Petrochemical Associates International Corporation. PAIC's corporate divisions include: Petrochem Inc., Petrochem Petroleum Technologies, Petrochem CHOOH2, Petrochem Advanced Fuel (CHOOH2) Technologies, the Petrochem Credit Union, Petrochem Chemical Industries, and the Petrochem Armed Forces. Some subdivisions include: The Submerged Drilling Project, Petrochem Shipping, Petroleum Refining, Petrochem Farms, Advanced Fuel Refining, Special Projects, Advanced Materials, Alternate Fuels, Petrochem Weapons, and Petrochem Lobbying and Marketing.

SCANDAL—A PETROCHEM ADVENTURE INTRODUCTION

In this adventure, the characters are unwittingly drawn into a confrontation with the Petrochem Corporation. They discover that the illegal dumping of a highly toxic material is claiming the lives and the minds of local street people. Hired by die local citizens to expose the plot, they try to prove the corporation's responsibility while facing opposition from Petrochem's dangerous black ops forces. This adventure may be played with any type or number of players. The run is especially well suited for a Media team or a team with a Media on it. Some characters will have to be combat effective for die encounter with die soldiers, but detective work is die focus of die adventure. If none of die characters has medical or biochemical skills, the characters will have to hire the services of a Ripperdoc. PART ONE: A LITTLE WEIRD TO BEGIN WITH As the adventure begins, the characters are relaxing in the Uptown Club, a sarcastically-named, South Night City watering hole popular with die cyberpunk set (You may substitute the characters' regular hang out, if they have one, for the Uptown Club. See the Night City Sourcebook for information on South Night City). It is a quiet evening; a few 'punkers are hanging out, swapping lies and cutting deals, but business is slow and activity is subdued. A Blood and 7c? tune is thumping plaintively out of the jukebox. Sideways Clarence, die huge bartender, is mixing up the potions on demand. (He's called Sideways Clarence because he's so broad-shouldered that his friends, only half joking, suggest that he has to walk through doors sideways.) Sideways Clarence is a compassionate man who remembers South Night City's better days. He has always allowed die local beggars to come into his bar and get a cup of coffee, as long as 41

MERRILL., ASUKAGA & FINCH

MATTY THE VAGRANT (BEGGAR)

A typical Night City vagrant; dirty, gaunt, and unshaven, in scavenged clothes. He will fight until killed, knocked out, bound, or sedated. Boldface numbers indicate his stats while berserk. STATS: INT 4, REF 7/9, TECH 3, COOL 5/10, ATTR 2, LUCK 1, MA 6/7, BODY 7/10, EMP 6/1, SAVE 7/10, BTM -2/-3. SKILLS: Street Survival 5, Persuasion and Fast Talk 2, Streetwise 4, Awareness/Notice 3, Hide/Evade 4, Brawling 3, Melee 4. CYBERWARE: None. GEAR: A makeshift dagger made from a piece of sharpened iron (Melee 0 J - 1D6 - - - 1m). Note: Street Survival; a skill for beggars, tramps and urchins. It represents the ability to scrounge for food, cast-off clothing, and a safe place to sleep. Different from Streetwise in that it doesn't represent contacts or deal-making ability. It's like Wilderness Survival for the city.

they're not too smelly. This evening one such vagrant is nursing a cup of the complimentary coffee at a small table in a corner of the bar. Characters making a Streetwise roll > 17 may recognize him as a normally harmless neighborhood bum named Matty. He is talking to himself softly, but that is not unusual for him. However, as a few minutes pass, characters who make an Awareness/Notice roll > 15 may notice that the pitch and volume of Matty's solitary monologue are rising rapidly. It is impossible to hear what he is saying without coming within a couple effect of his table. If the characters approach the vagrant: He will become more and more skittish as he is approached. When the characters get w i t h i n a couple of feet, two things will happen. 1) The vagrant's mumbling will become intelligible, rising in volume as the characters approach: "Get away-get away-get away— GETAWAY!'"!) He will go completely crazy, attacking everybody around him indiscriminately with a large piece of sharpened steel that he has pulled from his coat. If the characters don't notice or don't act: They'll notice as soon as somebody else comes close to Matty, and he goes crazy and starts attacking anyone he can with his makeshift dagger. He may injure one or two people before he is subdued. If they don't get involved on their own, Sideways Clarence will ask the characters for help.

A

REQUEST

Once Matty has been subdued or killed, Sideways Clarence will call an ambulance and have him taken to the local free clinic for treatment or cremation. Neither the police nor the medical system has any interest in a loony Combat Zone bum, so there will be no investigation, or autopsy if he is dead. If he is alive he will be put in the psych ward where the overworked doctors will get to him when they have time. Having taken care of immediate business, Clarence will ask to speak to the characters. "This isn't the first time that something like this has happened around here. I know of three other times with local beggars going berserk, hallucinating and killing themselves or attacking others. I know most of them are a little weird to begin with, but not homicidal. Don't know if they're getting into a new drug, or what. The public clinic won't do toxicology, and no one else is interested. I know it's hard to care about beggars, but if they're into something, how long before the local kids get into it? I've scraped up a few bucks from some of the other local merchants. I'd appreciate it if you folks could check this out." Clarence can't come up with more than a few hundred bucks, so the characters are going to have to work for cheap, but it's their neighborhood, too.

42

CORPORATE REPORT 2020: PETROCHEMICAL ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL. MORE INCENTIVE CELIA PULAWSKI (MEDIA) STATS: INT 10, REF 7, TECH 7, COOL 8, ATTR 9, LUCK 5, MA 9, BODY 7, EMP 9/6, SAVE 7, BTM-2.

If the characters need more prodding, and they don't already have a Media on the team, try this: There is a freelance media who hangs out at the Uptown Club, a woman named Celia Pulawski. She's looking for her break, and she thinks there might be a story behind the psychotic beggars. She has a few more eb that she can throw into the kitty, and she'll ask the characters to help her investigate.

SKILLS: Credibility 7, Personal Grooming 5, Wardrobe and Style 4, Human Perception 4, Interview 6, Social 3, Persuasion and Fast Talk 4, Awareness/Notice 6, Education and General Knowledge 5, Brawling 3, Melee 1, Handgun 1, Driving 6, Photo and Film 5.

PART Two: INVESTIGATION If the characters agree to look into matters for Sideways Clarence, there are several ways that they can go about their investigation. Pursuing several paths will provide the most complete picture.

CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Chipware Socket, Interface Plugs, Data Term Link, Machine/Tech Link, Basic Cyberoptics, Image Enhancement, Times Square Marquee, Teleoptics, LowLite™, Basic Cyberaudio, Amplified Hearing, Radio Link, Phone Splice, Sound Editing, Wide Band Scanner, Digital Recorder Link.

Investigate the other incidents of madness: There have been three other recent incidents involving sudden madness and hallucination in local beggars and vagrants. Two men and one woman have gone insane. The incidents received no official attention. Two of the vagrants are dead, and one is in die psych ward at the public hospital. If the characters check her out, they will find that she is incoherent. Although they are indicated, the clinic has not run any toxicology tests on her. Research Matty only: The characters can talk to some of the other beggars and bums in the neighborhood (there are plenty). It might take a Streetwise roll > 20 for them to find people who know Matty. Matty was a harmless individual who had lived on the street for over ten years. He drank, but, as far as anyone knew, he never took drugs or harmed anyone. He often slept at place called die Jungle, a squatters camp in a huge open pit. Get some tests done: For some reason, the public health clinic hasn't done toxicology tests on any of die victims, but there's no reason why the characters can't find a sophisticated Ripperdoc willing to do it. The problem is getting a blood or tissue sample from Matty, or, if he has been killed, the other surviving vagrant. It is easy to arrange a visit with one of hospitalized vagrants, but because they have gone psychotic, any visits will be supervised, and officially, no contact will be allowed. The characters will have to bluffer bribe their way through the system. It will take a Persuasion and Fast talk roll > 20, a few eb, and some good role play to get the team alone with one of the victims. Once alone, it will take a Medical Tech roll > 15 or a First Aid roll > 20 to get a blood sample from one of the struggling vagrants without hurting them. A failed roll means a broken needle or other injury, and possible intervention from the medical staff. Tests from more than one of the psychotic vagrants would be helpful. The characters should not try to blast their way into the clinic. As an option, the Referee can rule that the bodies have not yet been cremated, and the characters can sneak into die morgue for a sample. If the team gets a blood sample, they can have a local Ripperdoc do an analysis. It will take a Streetwise roll > 18 for the team to find a 'doc with the necessary equipment, and it will cost

GEAR: SP 14 armored long coat, Raven Microcybernetics Cybercam EX-1 (see Chromebook).

200eb. If the team has a Medtech who also has Biology and Chemistry, the 'tech can do the analysis if he or she has access to a good lab and makes a Medtech roll > 20 and Biology and Chemistry rolls > 15. If the test is successful, the results will prove interesting. Each blood or tissue sample from a psychotic vagrant will show traces of the same compound. A little indexing will show that the chemical does not match any currently known street or medical drug. Its structure is similar to several known psychoactive substances. It could be the remnants of a street drug, or it could be from some kind of unintentional contamination. General Background: It will serve the characters well to circulate on the street a little and see what background they can dredge up for the other victims. With a Streetwise roll ^15, and a little role play, it will probably come as no surprise when the characters learn that it wasn't just Matty, but all of the psychosis victims that regularly slept at the Jungle. A good question: The characters may wonder why basic toxicology tests were not done on the vagrants, especially after so many cases of psychosis. If the characters talk to the orderlies at the public hospital, or do a little research, they will discover that toxicology is SOP on incoming mental patients, or the bodies of people who have gone psychotic. No one can explain why toxicology was not done on Matty, or any of the other victims of the strange Psychosis, especially considering their common connection to the Jungle.

43

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

DR. WALTER KRIEGER (MEDTECH)

STATS:

NT 8, REF 8, TECH 7, COOL 7, ATTR 6, LUCK 4, MA 7, BODY 8, EMP 6/5, SAVE 8, BTM-3.

SKILLS: Medical Tech 8, Social 6, Persuasion and Fast Talk 5> Awareness/Notice 4, Education and General Knowledge 8, Expert Psychologist 8, Expert Neurochemistry 6, Biology 7, Chemistry 7, Brawling 2, Handgun 3, Driving 3. CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Chipware Socket, Interface Plugs, Data Term Link, Machine/Tech Link, GEAR: Militech Arms Avenger with one magazine in desk or car, cellular phone, SP 10 armor T-shirt.

PART THREE: CONNECTIONS

Once they have researched die victims of die psychosis, die characters should have two things on their mind. 1) What is going on at die Jungle? All of die victims slept or spent time there. 2) How come standard toxicology tests were not done on die victims? The characters can pursue either angle, or both at die same time.

PART 3A: THE DOCTOR If the characters want to find out why die standard tests were not performed on die victims of die sudden psychosis, they will have to talk to the staff at the public health clinic and to the doctor overseeing die cases. The staff won't know why die tests weren't performed, they "don't have access to that information." The characters will be referred to the doctor overseeing die psych cases. DOCTOR KRIEGER

The person responsible for die unclaimed psych cases is a Dr. Walter Krieger. Krieger used to practice at an upscale suburban medical center, but he was drummed out after a malpractice suit involving a failed chemical treatment for a famous schizophrenic artist. The public clinic is die only place he can find work The characters will be able to get Krieger's phone number and business hours from the front desk. They can get his home number and address if they send a Netrunner into the clinic's computers. It will take an Interface roll > 20 to access die correct information. Failure means the information can not be accessed, and die characters will have to talk to him at die clinic. If the characters talk to him at the clinic or over the phone: He seems amiable, but he will explain that he has only a few minutes. If die players ask him why toxicology tests were not performed on die blood of the four psychotic vagrants, Krieger will

44

CORPORATE REPORT 2020: PETROCHEMICAL ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL.

explain that, although the tests are mandated, the clinic is overloaded and nearly broke. He prefers to concentrate his effort on those he considers salvageable. He claims to know of no pattern to the symptoms, behavior, or residence of the four victims. They were just four poor people whose minds finally went. If the players confront him with the results of a test they may have conducted in their own, he will dismiss it as not meaning anything. He will then say that his time is up, and he must leave. If any of the characters has Human Perception, have them make a Human Perception roll vs. Dr. Krieger's Persuasion and Fast Talk Roll. If the character wins by +1-2: he or she thinks that Krieger was worried during the interviews. By +3-4: Krieger was definitely worried, and may be hiding something. By +5-6: Krieger is hiding something, and afraid for his life. By +7 up: Krieger was lying, is afraid for his life, and may be dangerous. Human Perception over the phone is at -4, and works only if the person with the skill can hear both ends of the conversation. If the characters confront Krieger away from the clinic: He will be much more belligerent. He will demand to know how the characters found him, and will tell them to reach him through the clinic if they want to talk to him. If pushed or coerced, he will tell the characters the same things as above. A Human Perception roll will also work as above. If the characters force Krieger to talk and make an Interrogation roll vs. Krieger's Cool Roll, he will spill a whole new story. He will tell the characters that he was going to run the standard tests, but he was approached while off-duty by two large, armed men. The men told him that they represented a certain party that wished to make sure that there were no toxicology tests on any living or dead vagrants or squatters that displayed the same symptoms of sudden psychosis, especially if they spent time at the squatter camp called the Jungle. They said that they would pay the doctor 5000eb to make the coverup. They also said that they would kill him if he talked or failed. After confessing, the doctor will plead with the characters for protection. If they release him, he will flee and disappear.

PART 3B,THE JUNGLE The characters will eventually be checking out the Jungle, either before or after they talk to the good doctor. The Jungle is a squatter's camp that has been erected in a pit that holds the foundation for a huge tower that was never completed. The remnants of the foundation offer partial shelter from the elements. In one corner of the pit, where an enterprising soul has tapped a water main that was to feed the building, there is running water for drinking and showering. The pit is 100m per side, and between 5 and 10m deep. Makeshift stairs lead down from the sidewalk. Parts of the floor are dirt and parts are concrete. Over 400 people live or sleep in the pit, in boxes, tents and newspapers. Gangs raid the pit occasionally, but the large number of people living there acts as a deterrent. Most of the residents of the pit are true derelicts and beggars, with no money or resources. If the characters research the history of the pit: Five years ago it was to be an office tower, built as part of mayor Judson Freeman/Mbole Ebunike's now defunct plan to revitalize South Night City. Construction was suddenly halted when the Petrochem Corporation filed a lawsuit asking for an injunction against construction on the grounds that the city had used unfair bidding practices when it refused to allow Petrochem to purchase the previously undeveloped land for its own uses. The city won the lawsuit, but construction was never resumed. Petrochem has recently launched another campaign to buy the property, and legal proceedings are under way. Vagrants have been using the pit ever since the construction crews stopped work in 2015. If the characters talk to people in the pit: Many of the beggars and vagrants will be afraid of the characters at first, believing them to be police or gang members come to hassle them. Eventually, after a little role play, the characters will be able to get some of them to loosen up enough to talk. There arc four things worth noting. 1) Recently, more and more of the people living in the pit have been getting sick. Disease is quite common among the beggars, but incidents have been rising, and symp45

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

toms have been strange: weeping sores, dementia, and the strange psychosis that first got the characters involved in the whole situation. Even deformed rats and pigeons have begun turning up in higher numbers. A few people have begun abandoning the pit, but many remain. 2)

Recently, strange people have been seen snooping around the pit at night. They move silently through the boxes, foundation parts and surrounding buildings. Many people believe that the strange intruders are from a new local gang. They are definitely not beggars. The few individuals who have gotten a good look have said that the intruders are big men wearing military clothes.

3) There have been more killings than usual in the pit recently. There are always occasional murders; people are killed for shoes, food, or a harsh word in the wrong direction. In the last month, however, there have been eight killings; twice the normal for that period of time. Three of the people killed were homeless leaders who were trying to rally the city to set up a permanent shelter at the site. 4) A strange liquid has begun seeping up in one corner of the pit, in a dirt-lined area. It is viscous and oily, and smells strange. People no longer live in that section. If the characters stake out the pit: Activity in the Jungle winds down at about 11 pm, when it gets cold. People start climbing into their boxes and going to sleep, and activity concentrates around five or six oil-can fires. If the characters make Awareness/Notice roles vs. the Petrochem special ops soldiers' Stealth (sec Key People), they may see two or three large men in camo surveying the pit from the edge. Any characters looking without Low-Lite, UV, or similar enhancement will take a -3 modifier from the darkness. The soldiers will make regular surveys throughout the night. They will flee if confronted unless they have something to gain. They are Petrochem black ops soldiers. They have been assigned to oversee operations at the pit, where Petrochem is hoping to suppress the discovery of the leakage of toxic waste from an illegal dumping from 2011 to 2013. The soldiers are quashing all investigation or complaints until Petrochem can buy the property, legally evict the squatters, and cover up the site. There are four of them at the pit. PART FOUR: CONFRONTATIONS A N D COVERUPS By now, the characters should suspect that they have a potential media bonanza on their hands. The evidence points to some kind of toxic waste scandal. There a couple of things that the characters may want to do.

pit. The characters may want to take a sample of the material and have it analysed. If the characters have not chased the soldiers away, or killed them, they may be in for a surprise. If the four soldiers see the characters take a sample of the oily substance, they will attempt to intercept and attack the characters before they can have the resin tested. See Key People for weapons and stats on the soldiers. The soldiers will wait until the characters are away from the pit before they attack. Even if the characters manage to chase the soldiers off, the surviving ones will try to follow the team covertly to see where they are taking the sample. Have the characters make Awareness/Notice rolls vs. the special ops soldiers' Shadow/Track. If the characters manage to defeat or elude the Petrochem soldiers, they can have the substance tested in the same way as the blood samples from Matty and the other vagrant. A Ripperdoc with a good setup will do the analysis for a couple of hundred eb. A character can do it with a good lab and a Chemistry roll > 20 and a Biology roll > 15. Chemical analysis will reveal that the resin is a byproduct of the manufacture of a pesticide called DBZ. DBZ is used mostly on T. Megasuavis fields for CHOOH2 production. It is manufactured only by Petrochem. Petrochem's South Night Refinery manufactured DBZ until 2013, when production was transferred to another facility. The resin is supposed to be disposed of only in deep dumps designed for highly toxic materials. It is a known toxin and mutagen, and is known to be psychoactive, causing delusions and psychosis. Analysis will confirm that the agent in Matty's blood is also in the oily resin. Dig: If the characters feel lucky, they may put on masks and gloves and dig in the spot where the resin is seeping to the surface. They will only have to go a few inches down before they find the source of the resin. There are steel drums buried in the dirt. Several of them have broken open, possibly from age and corrosive effects, releasing hundreds of gallons of toxic waste. It is this effluvium that is seeping to the surface. It never would have been discovered if not for the plan to build a tower on the site. This explains Petrochems desire to prevent construction and investigation. Unless the characters have eliminated or chased off the soldiers who survey the site each night, they will be attacked. The soldiers want to prevent the characters from digging on the site, and they will make every effort to accomplish this. They will attack stealthily, and the characters will have to make Awareness/Notice rolls vs. special ops soldiers' Stealth to get any warning. Note: The characters will get the most complete picture if they dig and have the substance tested. BREAKING THE STORY If the characters have followed up all of the angles, they now have enough evidence to prove that the Petrochem refinery was running an illegal toxic dumping operation here sometime in the past

Test the oily resin: If the characters spoke to the beggars in the Jungle, they know that an odd, possibly toxic and mutagenic substance is seeping up through the ground in one corner of the

46

CORPORATE REPORT 2020: PETROCHEMICAL. ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL

Although the barrels are unmarked, Petrochem is the only company that makes, or has made DBZ, and, thus, the only company that would be dumping byproducts from the production of the pesticide. This kind of a story can vault a Media team into the big time. If the characters are a Media Team, or have a Media working with them, they should be excited. If not, they should try to contact a Media as soon as possible. They might even be able to sell the story for a good sum. They'll certainly get publicity. A LAST DITCH EFFORT Everything is not over with yet. The actions of the team have been observed and reported by the Petrochem Soldiers. Having failed to deter the characters with force, the company is going to give the soft touch a whirl before they send in the big guns. Sometime after they have made their discovery, the characters are going to be intercepted by a Petrochem Corp who wants to cut a deal. The corp will meet the team at a location of the referee's choosing, any rime before they break the story. He will make sure that it is in a location where his backup team can cover him. This could mean near the Jungle, outside the Uptown Club, or anywhere else where he won't be isolated with the team. He will probably do it someplace where there aren't a lot of people around.

ROBERT PAGE (CORP)

STATS: INT 7, REF 8, TECH 5, COOL 9, ATTR 9, LUCK 6, MA 8, BODY 7, EMP 7/5, SAVE 7, BTM-2. SKILLS: Resources 6, Personal Grooming 4, Wardrobe and Style 5, Social 6, Persuasion and Fast Talk 5, Awareness/Notice 5, Education and General Knowledge 7, Hide/Evade 2, Stock Market 5, Accounting 6, Karate 5, Handgun 3, Driving 5.

The corp is named Robert Page. He is an underling of John Baldwin, the current director of the Petrochem Refinery and the man who was in charge of the DBZ production program from 2011 to 2013. Page will wait for the characters in the street. He will appear to be alone, but characters making Awareness/Notice rolls vs. The special ops soldiers' Stealth rolls after a -3 modifier may notice one or two of the commandos hidden on nearby rooftops or in dark doorways. Page will approach the characters with a briefcase. He will offer the characters 20,000eb in cash to forget everything they have learned until the Jungle is covered over. He will never say who he works for. If the characters accept the money: Page is sincere. He will pay the characters with the cash in the briefcase. He will also warn the characters not to renege on the deal. If they do, he promises that Petrochem's elite terror troops, the Water Leopards, will hunt them down and kill them. The adventure is over. Chastise your players for being amoral. If the characters reject the deal: Page will order the soldiers stationed around him to attack the characters and wipe them out. There are 4 to 10 special ops soldiers, depending on the strength of the characters' team. If the players survive the combat, they may interrogate Page and break the story. See below. If the characters attack Page: The 4 to 10 hidden special ops soldiers will attack and attempt to wipe out the characters. If the characters win, they may interrogate Page and break the story. See below. If the characters interrogate Page: Page will attempt to flee as soon as any combat breaks out. The characters may still catch

CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Chipware Socket, Interface Plug, Data Term Link, Smartgun Link, Basic Cyberoptic, Times Square Marquee, Low-Lite™. GEAR: SP 18 armor jacket, smartchipped Federated X9mm pistol with three magazines, pocket radio transmitter.

him, however. If the characters take him alive, they may interrogate him. If the characters make an Interrogation roll vs. Page's COOL, he will tell them that he works for Petrochem, that the corporation is responsible for the waste, and that John Baldwin ordered him to buy the characters off or kill them so that he could complete his coverup. CONCLUSION If the characters survive the confrontation with Page and his commandos, they will have all the evidence they need to break a huge scandal wide open. The story will get major media coverage, the characters will get publicity, John Baldwin will be fired and tried, and Petrochem will issue a public apology and clean up the site. There will be no more cases of poisoning. The characters are local heroes. • 47

CORPORATE REPORT 2020: SOVIET WORLD OIL. INDUSTRIES

PRECIS IN 1997, THE SOVIETS HAD THE CAPABILITY TO

SOVOIL.

RECOVER ONLY A FRACTION OF THEIR OIL RESERVES; THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD. AFTER A

World leader in oil recovery/refining. Extensive mining, heavy industry, and power transmission interests.

HEADQUARTERS: REGIONAL OFFICES:

MASSIVE PROGRAM OF EXPANSION AND MODERNIZATION, KEROSOV, THE SOVIET STATE OIL INDUSTRY, WAS STRONG ENOUGH TO BREAK AWAY FROM

Moscow

St. Petersburg, Tashkent, Vladivostok, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Sin-

THE UNION GOVERNMENT'S CENTRAL COMMITTEE. BY 2002, IT HAD BECOME THE SOVIET WORLD OIL INDUSTRIES: SOVOIL.

gapore, Sydney, Algiers, Rio De Janiero, Havana, Washington

SOVOIL'S LEADERS KNOW, HOWEVER, THAT THE OIL

D.C., Night City, most capitals in United Europe

CARRY THE CORP INTO THE 2050'S, WHEN OIL IS

WON'T FLOW FOREVER, AND ARE MAKING PLANS TO NO LONGER A PRIME SOURCE OF INCOME.

NAME AND LOCATION OF MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS: SovOil Investments (Novikovo

IN THE NEW SOVIET UNION AND EASTERN EUROPE, SOVOIL IS A MAJOR ECONOMIC FORCE, AND ITS

family) of Moscow, 8%; Inner Board of Directors, 20% EMPLOYEES: World Wide 800,000

EXPANSION INTO OTHER INDUSTRIES IS NOT UNNOTICED BY PETROCHEM. MUCH ILL-FEELING R E M A I N S , EVEN 10 Y E A R S AFTER THE W A R ; WITH

Troops 150,000 Secret Police/Specialists 50,000

COMPETITION HEATING UP, AND R E S O U R C E S G R O W I N G S C A R C E R , THE TWO GIANTS MAY BE HEADED FOR ANOTHER CONFRONTATION.

49

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

HISTORY 1994

Andrei Gorborev slammed his fist down on the polished mahogany table, silencing the bickering that had dominated the discussion for the last several minutes. Grudgingly, the delegates from the small nations that had once comprised the mighty Soviet Union gave die man at the head of the table their attention. "We must have an accord!" Gorborev exclaimed, "And we must have it before this conference ends. Too many times we have tried and failed. Now there is no alternative. The world grows unstable. The United States is suffering, and Western Europe threatens economic domination. If we are to compete as a credible economic force, now is our opportunity." He paced around he table, struggling to hide his contempt for the leaders of die new sovereign republics, few of whom seemed to be able to grasp die big picture. "And throughout this, what do I hear from this table? Threats...insults..." Gorborev scowled at die foreign ministers of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, "...completely inconsequential border disputes." The two men lowered their eyes. The President of die Soviet Federation strode back to his position at the head of the table, but remained standing. "I'm not asking you to compromise your sovereignty. I'm not asking any of you to give more than you'll receive. We must form an economic and strategic union. There must be free trade across our borders. Certain key industries must be centrally administrated, and allowed to operate without restriction. Only in this way will our Federation survive. Otherwise, we arc doomed to catastrophe."

Gorborev speaks at conclave forming new Union of Sovereign Republics

stability, certain key industries were kept socialized and administrated across all of the republics by subcommittees of the Central Committee. One such centrally-controlled industry was oil.

Out of this impassioned plea, the Union of Sovereign Soviet Republics was forged from die remains of die Soviet Federation. Andrei Gorborev laid the foundation for a new Soviet Union, a Union to be bound by political and economic cooperation rather than enforced ideology. Although still beset by internal conflicts, the new Union enabled the USSR to compete successfully with the EEC and USA, and avoid the complete chaos and disintegration which had been forecast for so long. The Union allowed die various republics to remain autonomous, with their own governments, armed forces and international relations, but it provided a political and economic framework for cooperation, and a military alliance for security. A Central Committee comprised of elected delegates from all of the republics dealt with economic and political issues that affected the entire union. The Committee was empowered to enforce policy with political and economic sanctions. A president was elected from the body of delegates. Andrei Gorborev, former president of the old Soviet Federation, served several consecutive two-year terms as president of the new Union.

Organization of the socialized state industries was proving difficult. Although they had all signed the Union agreement, most of the republics were arguing over which specific resources were to be ceded to Committee control. As one of the most valuable commodities, oil was a particularly sticky bone of contention. Siberia and Kazakhstan, holders of the largest oil reserves in Soviet territory, were being especially recalcitrant. In order to hasten progress, Gorborev ordered a reorganization of the State Oil Industries Subcommittee and named Anatoly Novikovo as new Director. Novikovo was the head Siberian delegate to the Central Committee, and a powerful leader. His charisma and connections with the Siberian oil industries were valuable assets, and formation of the state oil industry moved forward. Central Committee rules required that the Deputy Director of the State Oil Subcommittee be from a different republic than die Director. In a daring political move, Novikovo appointed Yarno Kurgasyn, his longtime rival and the chief delegate from Kazakhstan, as his deputy. With representation in the two major oil-producing regions, success was ensured.

Under the terms of the new union, republics were allowed to form their own free-market economies. In order to maintain regional

1997 Consolidation of die State Industries continued against the dra-

1996

50

CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: SOVIET WORLD OIL INDUSTRIES

A "Nights of Fire" action near party headquarters, Znamenka matic backdrop of the KGB rebellion and the 'Nights of Fire", during which renegade KGB elements from the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics waged war with reformist army units across the new Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics. The violent rebellion was unsuccessful, as reformists held onto power and the sovereignty movement survived, but a crucial element of future events had been established. During the unsettling year, the State Industries, including oil, lobbied successfully for the right to establish their own security forces to protect Valuable Union resources' from attack and sabotage by the renegade KGB units and several rebellious army units which had joined them. The Industry Subcommittees argued that republican armed forces were unreliable, as they had no cross-border coordination and were more concerned with the welfare of the individual republics than with that of combined State resources. The Subcommittee directors claimed that they needed forces dedicated solely to protecting State industrial resources. The request was granted by Gorborev, and the fledgling State Oil industry began to establish its own army. Ironically, this would eventually become Gorborev's political undoing.

the oil producing, refining and transporting resources of the republics were firmly under the control of the State Oil Subcommittee and under the protection of the Oil Security Forces. Soviets began referring to the combined industries in the Russian language acronym, SGKP, or by the contraction KeroSov. In the West, the agency became known by the English version of the same contraction: SovOil. In 1998, the Soviets had the technological capabilities to recover only a small portion of their enormous oil reserves, the largest in the world. Novikovo fought for a budget increase from the Central Committee, and initiated a massive program of expansion and modernization. Shortly thereafter, oil recovery and export operations began to snowball in size and revenue started to rise. The increased revenue enabled State Oil to make comparable increases in the size and technology of its security forces. Certain large reserves remained technologically inaccessible, however. 2OOO The shortcomings of the new Soviet political system became obvious, as relationships in the SGKP Subcommittee began to break down. The charter of the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics required that each State Industry Subcommittee have two delegates from each of the fifteen active republics. This meant that there were thirty politicians at the helm of the mighty SGKP. Despite the unifying influences of Novikovo and Kurgasyn, control began to break down as each delegate put the interests of his

Novikovo was interested in recruiting only the best. The early nucleus of SovOil's army was drawn from the fearsome, prounion, Soviet Interior Ministry troops: the OMON Black Berets. These were the core of SovOil's first Special Ops units. 1998

Formation of the Soviet State Oil Industries was completed. All of

51

MERRILL., ASUKAGA & FINCH republic before those of the industry or the Union. Novikovo realized that the only eventual solution would be to sever the relationship between the SGKP and the USSR government. Quietly, Novikovo began to talk to people, trying to get a feel for the sentiments of others and find out who would back him. In a key success, Novikovo won die support of Sergei Kirsanov, a Russian delegate and commander of the SGKP Security Forces. Yarno Kurgasyn also agreed with Novikovo that die Industries had to function independently of the Central Committee, and that secession was in order. Together, the two men began planning their coup. Secretly, however, each wondered who would assume control of die SGKP when the power structure of USSR politics no longer applied. 2OO2 The year of die great Soviet corporate rebellion. Novikovo quietly ordered Sergei Kirsanov to put SGKP Security Forces onto full alert and transfer military reserves to key company sites. He then announced that die State Oil Industries were seceding from Central Committee control and going private. Gorborev and the Central Committee were enraged, and ordered USSR forces from the various republics to seize SGKP resources and installations. The weaknesses of the new USSR revealed themselves when the weak and uncoordinated republican troops were unable to wrest control of die installations from die well-led SGKP Black Berets. Republican troops were forbidden to destroy the installations, which were vital to the USSR's oil supply, and die Central Committee had no alternative but to give in and acknowledge the SGKP's independence. With independence won, Novikovo and Kurgasyn began a purge and reorganization of SGKP leadership. The two leaders disbanded the Oil Industries Subcommittee and formed a new SGKP Directorate. The Directorate was composed of men and women from around the USSR who supported the rebellion or were invited in afterward. Novikovo was named Chairman and Kurgasyn named Chief Deputy. Gorborev felt personally responsible for the situation, and resigned in disgrace from the USSR Central Committee. Byelorussian delegate Igor Starobin was elected to die Presidency as his replacement. With new leadership in die Kremlin, Novikovo extended an olive branch to the Central Committee. He proposed that the SGKP continue to serve State interests and develop State resources, and be allowed to operate freely across all of die republics. In return for autonomy, the company would no longer require state money for operation, and it would compensate die oil-rich republics for drilling rights and cooperate with their governments. Novikovo and die SGKP special forces had complete military control over almost all USSR oil resources and technolo-

gy, and die Central Committee and independent republic governments had to accept. 2OO3 The SGKP continued to assert its independence. It dropped die 'State' from its tide, added 'World', and became officially known as Soviet World Oil Industries, or die SMKP. The nicknames KereSov and SovOil remained. In a major business coup, SovOil announced die development of huge new Siberian, Kazakh and Caspian oil resources, and went public on the World Stock Exchange. With much of die Middle East reduced to radioactive slag since 1997, oil was one of die most valuable commodities in the world. Investors snapped up die SovOil stock, and capital flowed into die company. Directorate members got first crack at the stock offering, and the power structure of the corporation remained intact. Very few foreigners gained enough shares to obtain board seats. Novikovo remained majority partner and chairman. A CEO and CFO were nominated. ZOOS

Dissent was spreading through die fractious USSR republics. The Central Committee, still under the leadership of Igor Starobin, began to lose control of die Union. Realizing that a breakup of the new Union would threaten SovOil, Novikovo began a covert program of political involvement. SovOil agents quietly circulated through the Central Committee and the governments of die individual republics, lining pockets and boosting die popularity and power of politicians in favor of continued unity. Over the course of die next two years, SovOil secretly became the major unifying force in the USSR. 20O6

SovOil began producing CHOOH2 under license from Biotechnica. The company started massive T. megasuavis plantations in die Ukraine, Georgia, Byelorussia, and Southern Siberia. Unfortunately, it was unable to import refining technology from die USA, and had to develop its own purification systems. The final product was inferior to Petrochem CHOOH2, but it worked. Marketing began throughout Europe. Some huge Siberian oil resources were still untapped due to technological deficiencies in the USSR. Petrochem made a proposal to supply SovOil with updated drilling, pumping and CHOOH2 technology in return for partial drilling rights. For a while, the deal looked like it was going to go through, but shortly before the papers were to be signed, SovOil Engineering announced a breakthrough in drilling technology that would make American systems redundant. The company cancelled the deal at the last moment. This debacle created a permanent rift between the two corporations.

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CORPORATE REPORT 2020: SOVIET WORLD OIL INDUSTRIES 2OO7 Already heated tensions rose as SovOil and Petrochem began exploring oil resources in the South China Sea. New SovOil Security Forces Commander Lupold Korepino sent heavy reinforcements to SovOil installations in the area and prepared for the worst. 2OO8 The tensions come to a head, as open hostilities began between Petrochem and SovOil forces. Three years of bitter righting followed, in one of the bloodiest corporate conflicts ever. Several smaller corporations were also dragged into the conflict. Some didn't emerge intact. 2OO9 While on an inspection trip to the war zone, Anatoly Novikovo, Chairman and President of SovOil and revered father of the company, was killed in a surprise Petrochem attack. Yarno Kurgasyn stepped in as new leader of die corporation. CEO Boris Svinarin was named new Deputy Director. Novikovo's son, Yevgeny, was named as die new CEO, and his daughter, Neonila, stepped into his seat as majority shareholder. 2O1O Lupold Korepino's forces were victorious, and Petrochem was driven from the South China Sea. The toll was high, but SovOil seized control of one of the last large, oil-rich areas outside of the USSR. SovOil stock began a rapid recovery from its wartime low. 2O12

Yarno Kurgasyn retired, worn down from years of high pressure at the top of Soviet politics and SovOil management. Boris Svinarin was judged to have had too little board experience to merit the chairmanship. The Novikovo family still held a majority share, and Neonila Novikovo's vote was instrumental in electing longstanding board member Arkady Cherminino as new Chairman.

MAIN PRODUCTS AND INTENT OIL As the name indicates, oil is SovOil's main product, and its primary source of income. The company pumps ten million barrels a day from fields in the Caspian and South China Seas, Antarctica, Siberia, and Kazakhstan. Petrochem, the only other company active in crude oil recovery, pumps a third of that amount.

SovOil sells its crude oil around the world, although over half finds its way into the domestic Soviet common market. The USSR lags behind the United States and Western Europe in the transition to advanced fuels, and many of its vehicles and generating stations are still powered by oil and oil distillates. The Soviet Union is one of the few regions of the world where gasoline-powered automobiles are still common, although CHOOH2-driven vehicles arc increasing in popularity. The one area in which SovOil can not sell oil is the United States. Petrochem has a monopoly on the United States oil and CHOOH2 markets. SovOil retaliates by preventing the sale of Petrochem oil products in the USSR. Oil. DERIVATIVES Although it still sells oil for fuel uses, SovOil is also competitive in advanced petroleum chemistry. The company has large, wellbudgeted laboratories where scientists conduct continuous research on synthetics, pharmaceuticals, and other substances derived from raw petroleum. SovOil's petrochemical research and manufacturing divisions export thousands of products. Petrochem may be more advanced, with access to sophisticated new molecular engineering technology, but SovOil moves much more product, and it is catching up technologically.

Arkady Cherminino played a crucial part in settling the conflict between Latvia and Lithuania. SovOil's success where die Central Committee failed helped to cement the corporations role as the major unifying force in the USSR. By the end of 2016, the corporation had greater resources than any single republic or die Central Committee. The republics and the Committee became tools for the corporation.

GENERAL OIL TECHNOLOGY Like Petrochem, SovOil is self sufficient in the design and production of oil pumping, transporting and refining technology. Since there is no world market for these items, no third-party companies will manufacture them. Fortunately, this is not an inconvenience for SovOil, as the corporation has access to huge manufacturing and heavy industry resources, many of which were once state-owned. Much of SovOil's heavy industry capability is devoted to oil-related manufacturing.

2O2O SovOil is now the seventh-largest corporation in the world, in terms of value, and sail on the way up. Although smaller than many other corporations, it has enough political power in the USSR to draw on the resources of the republics and the central committee when necessary. SovOil is one of the major powers in the world.

STANDARD OIL FIELDS SovOil has tens of thousands of square miles of regular oil fields, stretching across the Muslim-populated scrub of Kazakhstan, the barren tundra of Siberia, and the perpetually frozen surface of Antarctica. In areas where drilling is still going on, hundreds of oil derricks rise towards the sky. The rest of the fields are dotted with

2016

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MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

A sub tanker takes on a load from one of the China Sea platforms the bobbing heads of oil pumps working already established wells. Drilling Project. The corporation views these operations as needSovOil has tens of thousands of operational wellheads, producing lessly expensive, and prefers to place its faith in a large, well-armed millions of barrels of oil each day. Huge networks of overland pipes security force. SovOil does use fifteen submersible tankers, and, link the wellheads to sprawling tank farms and refineries. Systems though they represent only a small part of its combined oil fleet, of cameras and security sensors monitor the valuable fields, and they are the most owned by any single corporation. Although SovOil Security Troops stand on twenty-four hour alert, ready to SovOil's submersible and standard tankers can load oil at offshore respond to any intrusion or attack. Specially-trained, crack trouand onshore terminals, and at several major platforms, the corpobleshooting teams can be scrambled at any time to deal with blown ration does not have the technology to do underwater oil transfers wellheads or catastrophic well or refinery fires. in the manner of Petrochems SDPRs. The corporation does have submerged tank farms around its offshore fields, and thousands of OFFSHORE Oil. ENGINEERING kilometers of submerged pipeline around the world. A great deal of SovOil's crude is pumped from offshore rigs in the shallow and mid-level depths of the Caspian and South China SovOil has a large subsidiary devoted to the manufacture and seas. The company maintains over 1000 offshore platforms, each maintenance of the offshore rigs and much of their support techcapable of running up to thirty productive wells. About 600 of nology: Offshore Engineering, Inc. This industry and its subconthese platforms are in the South China Sea, and 300 are in the tractors are responsible for the economic health of many of the Caspian. Of the remaining 100, thirty arc with the exploratory fourteen republics. Combined, they employ several hundred program in Antarctica, and the rest are in other exploratory sites thousand people. scattered around the world. OFFSHORE SUPPORT SERVICES

SovOil's pumping platforms are sophisticated and efficient, but they are conventional in design. SovOil is more confident in the security of its offshore platforms than Petrochem, and it has not tried to implement radical programs like Petrochem's Submerged

Over 150,000 people work on SovOil's offshore rigs. The large amounts of personnel and equipment demand constant support services, and SovOil has an entire division devoted to just that. Several huge 'flotels' service the offshore rigs. These are enormous, 54

CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: SOVIET WORLD OIL. INDUSTRIES

mobile platforms packed with recreational and service facilities for the crews and machines of the offshore rigs. Mobile fire-fighting and crisis platforms also patrol die fields, along with special naval vessels devoted to offshore security. On shore, shipyards and airports service die huge number of vessels that travel every day between die land and die offshore installations, and giant terminals and docks receive die oil arriving from pipelines and tankers. Special facilities house divers living under high pressure saturation for long periods of time, and huge recreational complexes serve off-duty offshore workers, some of whom may not have seen land for several weeks. OIL TRANSPORT SovOil's widespread pumping areas require a secure and welldeveloped oil transport industry capable of moving large quantities of crude under hostile conditions. The company's vital terrestrial and marine pipelines and huge fleet of tankers and support ships connect land and offshore oil fields to terminals and refineries. One of the company's major concerns is shipping oil from offshore fields to onshore terminals. The company has a huge fleet of surface tankers, but they are vulnerable to attack. Submersible tankers are secure, but move less product than surface vessels while being more expensive to buy and operate. Pipelines are efficient for both underwater and overland transport, but they are expensive to lay (underwater pipeline costs five million eb per mile) and easy to sabotage. However, since they offer the best means of transport, SovOil has invested a great deal in pipeline technology and construction. One of the company's major departments is devoted solely to the design, construction and management of major oil and gas pipelines. little has changed in overland pipeline design; die lines are made of reinforced concrete, and usually not buried. SovOil uses a reinforced "bunker" design, where the pipeline is actually bored through the center of large concrete blocks rather than being a cylindrical tube. The lines also use three to five smaller bores rather than one or two large ones. This is expensive, but it helps protect against attack and rupture. The corporation also maintains a large, quick-response security force devoted solely to protecting the thousands of miles of overland pipeline and die critical pumping stations which regularly punctuate die lines. The underwater pipelines have undergone a little evolution. They are still fashioned from concrete, as they have been for decades, but they use a special blend developed by SovOil. The blend has a proprietary, synthetic binding matrix that has some give, avowing the pipes and joints to flex more than regular concrete. This makes the pipelines more resistant to the seismic disturbances common in the volcanically active South China Sea. The blend is

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Uneven progress: traditionally-garbed Kazakhs ride along the Trans-Ustyurt Pipeline also lighter than regular concrete. This, along with the flexibility, enables the pipe to better withstand the common undersea caveins and shifts which can leave long spans unsupported. It also makes it possible for engineers to lay pipeline at greater depths and over larger chasms than they could with older technology. The lines are reinforced to stand up to sabotage and incidental hazards such as dragging anchors. New cybernetic technology plays a part in modern oil pipelines. Once lines were cleaned by running 'pigs' (large scrubbing plugs propelled by oil pressure) through the bore. Now, cybernetically-controlled robots patrol the inside of the pipeline, scrubbing the bore and monitoring for developing leaks and structural cracks. Some robots can turn themselves into mobile plugs when necessary, using their bodies to seal ruptured pipes. Self-sealing systems repair small ruptures until technical teams can make long-term repairs.

REFINING SovOil sells unrefined crude oil to several nations and corporations, all of whom process the oil to meet their individual needs. The company is, however, the largest refiner of oil products

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

remaining on the planet. SovOil has several large inland refineries near the Siberian and Kazakh oilfields, and large portside refineries on the Caspian and South China Seas. Shevchenko Refinery, near the Kazakhstan! Caspian port of the same name, is the largest refinery on Soviet soil, serving oil and natural gas from both Caspian offshore platforms and Kazakh inland fields. The refinery has pipeline and tanker terminals for offshore oil, and is on the receiving end of the mighty Trans-Ustyurt pipeline. The TransUstyurt is the largest oil pipeline in the world, although not the longest. It stretches north from Shevchenko to die Koschagyl field on the northern Caspian shores, and South to the Cheliken Peninsula fields in western Turkmenistan, on die southern shores of the Caspian. SovOil's South China Sea refineries are in Vietnam, peninsular Malaysia, and die Philippines. The corporation leases space from the governments of these countries, and hires indigenous populations to work diem. The foreign-territory refineries are problematic, since they are often compromised by diplomatic relations and terrorist activity, but they allow die corporation to refine oil products for sale in die economically powerful Pacific Rim without having to ship die crude back to die Soviet Union first. The alternative would be to sell only unrefined crude oil throughout die Pacific Rim, which would cut SovOil's profits. SovOil keeps things running smoothly by bribing local politicians, selling oil at a discount to the leasing nations, and maintaining large security forces in die region. The company has three major South China Sea refineries. Kuantan Refinery, in peninsular Malaysia, serves die Panjang Fields. Nha Trang Refinery in southern Vietnam, and Cape Buliluyan Refinery on die Philippine island of Palawan, both serve die large Spratly Fields. The South China Sea is crisscrossed with a huge network of submarine pipeline that links die offshore platforms and oil terminals to die crucial refineries. A great deal of SovOil's commercial and naval fleet is also concentrated in die area. SovOil has smaller refineries throughout die Soviet Union and around die world. COMMERCIAL NATURAL GAS

Natural Gas is a standard byproduct of oil drilling. SovOil is die world's largest producer of die light natural gases methane, ethane, butane, propane, and penrane. These gases are valuable products in 2020, and they are collected and sold by SovOil. In terrestrial oilfields die gas is removed from die oil during refining, liquified, and sold to clients around die world or piped to local towns and power companies. On offshore platforms die gas is separated from the oil on-site, and then sent to die refineries in liquid form. Oil and gas do not run through die same pipes, but die pipelines run parallel. Off-

shore platforms burn part of die gas for their power, and die perpetual gas-flare at die top of a derrick or on an arm suspended out over die ocean is a ubiquitous feature of die large rigs. Some platforms and wells are devoted exclusively to pumping natural gas, especially in northern regions near die Arctic Circle, but generally die gas is harvested as an oil byproduct. SovOil also uses natural gases for chemical and manufacturing purposes.

MINING When die oil industries were originally co-opted by die Soviet Union in die late twentieth century, coal mining was made part and parcel of die deal. SovOil has large coal mining operations throughout central and northern Siberia and in die western republics and die Balkans. The Soviet Union remains one of die few areas where coal is actively burned for heat and power. Coal and oil burning make die Soviet Union and Eastern Europe some of die most polluted regions on Earth. Unfortunately, as long as die coal is cheap and available there is not likely to be much improvement. SovOil has diversified into other types of mining as well. The Soviet Union has huge deposits of phosphate minerals which are mined and used in fertilizers for CHOOH2 and food agriculture. The company also mines large amounts of potash compounds, iron ore, and in Siberia, precious minerals and metals including gold, platinum and diamonds. INDUSTRIAL TROUBLESHOOTING

Oil and gas recovery and mining are dangerous pursuits. A mining cave-in, blown well head, or refinery or platform fire can take hundreds or thousands of lives and cost hundreds of millions of Eurobucks in damage, insurance costs, and lost production. In addition to regular fire and safety personnel, SovOil maintains crack squads of quick-response troubleshooters. These men and women are not soldiers, they are specially trained engineers, technicians, and roughnecks, prepared and equipped to deal with die kinds of catastrophes that can suddenly strike die oil and mining businesses. These squads represent die cream of SovOil personnel: tough, smart and resourceful. They have to be prepared to deal with anything, from a wellhead spraying oil into die air (that could ignite into a raging firestorm at die slightest spark) to a mine collapse two miles underground, to fiercely burning offshore platform fires that must be atacked from die air and from underwater. The troubleshooting teams receive die best equipment available, are paid well, and spend only a small percentage of their time on die job. They also have a casualty rate of nearly fifty percent, and a fatality rate of twenty-five percent. SovOil recoups die expense of die troubleshooting teams in two ways. First, a team will save die company tens of millions of dollars if it rescues just one platform over die course of a year. Most

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CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: SOVIET WORLD OIL INDUSTRIES

leader in CHOOH2 production and technology, and SovOil is its only serious competition. SovOil produces and sells about half the volume of CHOOH2 that its American rival does, but it has a strong share of the western European market, and a virtual lock on the fledgling Soviet market. The company has large T. megasuavis plantations in the Ukraine, Georgia and southern Siberia. Some of the Siberian plantations are possible only because of the grain's engineered hardiness. SovOil's plantations are not as sophisticated as Petrochem's, but they produce serviceable grain at a competitive price. A few of the farms are privately owned, or owned and managed by the various republican governments. These farms sell grain to SovOil, or barter it in return for various finished products. SovOil owns the majority of its agricultural resources, however, and is slowly buying up independent farms. SovOil has large CHOOH2 refineries. Because CHOOH2 is not produced in the same areas as oil, the CHOOH2 refineries are, by and large, completely separate from the company's oil refineries. There are some combined refineries in Siberia, but they are exceptions. The corporation has not been in die CHOOH2 business as long as Petrochem, and its fermenting and refining technology lags behind that of the American giant. SovOil's CHOOH2 has more impurities in it than Petrochem's, and it burns a little dirtier. Although this does not affect automotive performance much, it does raise pollution levels and add to wear and tear on vehicles. SovOil counters these detriments with effective marketing and cheaper retail prices than Petrochem. SovOil is slowly improving its CHOOH2 technology, and it may catch up with Petrochem within the next decade. Petrochem is doing all that it can to prevent this, and it has refused to export current refining technology to SovOil, although it does sell it to other CHOOH2 companies. SovOil is waging a fierce campaign of industrial espionage against Petrochem, in order to steal valuable CHOOH2 technology secrets.

Trouble-shooters earn their pay: one out of every four will become a fatality teams deal with about one company crisis a month. Second, SovOil hires the troubleshooting teams out to the few other nations and corporations which have mining or oil enterprises. The rates are exorbitant, but a severe refinery fire can knock a small pumping company out of business or cripple the economy of a nation, and SovOil's troubleshooters are recognized as the best in the business. Even Petrochem has grudgingly hired SovOil troubleshooters on two occasions. SovOil was more than happy to take its competitor's money in return for saving a platform that Petrochem would rebuild anyway. Troubleshooting teams operate in a number of ways. They can be hired on retainer (under which a company or nation makes regular payments to SovOil in return for complete access to troubleshooting teams), they can be hired to oversee an area or project as a precaution for a set amount of time, or they can be called in on a case-by-case quick response basis. The latter is typical mode of operation, and teams and equipment are always standing by to scramble for SovOil or for a third party. CHOOH2

Several companies around the world produce the advanced grain fuel CHOOH2. Petrochem is widely acknowledged as the world

RETAILING FUELS SovOil retails gasoline and other fossil fuel products in die Soviet Union, and CHOOH2 around the world. In the Soviet Union, the retail stops are called by the corporation's Russian nickname: KeroSov. In the rest of the world, they are called by the corporation's English/Western name: SovOil. The stops sport the same logo and sell the same products, with the exception of gasoline which sells only in the Soviet Union. KeroSov/SovOil stations are very common throughout eastern and western Europe, and relatively common in major Asian nations. The Japanese market is one of SovOil s major strongholds, and a source of frustration for Petrochem, which is not having as much success in the region. SovOil stations can also be found in South and Central America, especially in those nations which still resent American interfer-

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MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH ence during the Central American Wars. The only region in which SovOil does not retail fuels is the United States, which banned the importation of foreign fuels under lobbying pressure from Petrochem. SovOil does have corporate representation in the US, and its non-fuel divisions arc active in the States. HEAVY INDUSTRY

SovOil needs a wide variety of specialized heavy equipment to run its oil, mining and CHOOH2 operations. Since SovOil and Petrochem are the only two corporations with large-scale oil operations, they must be almost entirely self-sufficient in designing and manufacturing this equipment. SovOil has a huge heavy industry subsidiary which manufactures much of the oil and CHOOH2 equipment used by the corporation. Mining is still common world-wide, and there are other corporations devoted to the production of mining equipment. Those items of special equipment that are beyond SovOil's production capabilities are specifically licensed to other manufacturers such as IEC and Arasaka. SovOil Heavy Industries designs and builds most of the corporations surface oil tankers, and all of its pipelines, offshore platforms, terrestrial drilling equipment, refining equipment, and CHOOH2 fermenting equipment. These industries account for hundreds of thousands of jobs, and the economic survival of several of the fifteen Soviet Sovereign Republics. Heavy Industries also produces a number of specialized vehicles and sophisticated fire-fighting and disaster-control equipment. SovOil Heavy Industries' empire includes several huge steel mills, which supply steel, aluminum, and other metals and alloys to the manufacturing divisions. Not all of SovOil's heavy industrial products are for company use. The corporation maintains a large international export business, and it ships many of its goods to international clients. Ships, construction equipment, heavy agriculture vehicles, and pipeline technology are all in high demand. In the last few years, SovOil has also become a major steel exporter, competing with many of the successful Japanese and Korean steel companies. POWER

As an oil company, it was natural that SovOil branch out into commercial energy. The company acquired and renovated many of the Soviet Union's aging coal, oil, nuclear, and hydroelectric power plants, and built many of its own from scratch. SovOil now supplies electricity to most regions of the Soviet Union. The company is also the Union's sole supplier of commercial natural gas, and it pipes cooking and heating gas directly to many areas. In some regions, SovOil wholesales natural gas to local utility companies and distributors, but the corporation controls the supply and has a virtual monopoly over the

Soviet Union. SovOil is beginning to expand its Energy Division into the rest of Europe, where it will face stiff competition from IEC Power Systems and national companies. GEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION

SovOil has a sophisticated geological research and engineering department that searches the world looking for the telltale signs indicating valuable oil or mineral deposits. The department and all of its information are proprietary, and kept under tight security. The company will lease the department to nations or corporations looking for mineral deposits to mine, but it often does so only under the condition that SovOil get first crack at any mining rights if the exploration pays off. All oil research and data is reserved exclusively for in-house use, and kept under the strictest security. SovOil's petrochemical geologists are highly trained, and some of the best paid people at the corporation. Their talents make them key targets for extraction, especially by Petrochem, and SovOil works full time to make sure that these precious individuals are happy, well paid, and always guarded. No leaks are tolerated, however, and a geological researcher will be in serious trouble if he or she accidentally reveals company oil secrets. Talent is valuable, but information is priceless. Schwann-Auerbach Engineering, a German electronics subsidiary of SovOil, produces much of the high-tech sonography, ultrasound, coring and chemical equipment used by the petrochemical geologists. The company also produces other high-tech electronic equipment such as electron microscopes and cybernetics for general sale and export. MILITARY

SovOil has huge resources spread around the world. Many of these resources are critical, expensive, and fragile. It only takes one missile to completely destroy a multi-million eb offshore platform or to rupture an overland pipeline and spill millions of gallons of oil onto the tundra. Constant tension between SovOil and Petrochem, and a history of warfare means that these strategic assets must be perpetually safeguarded. The corporation invests a huge portion of its budget into military forces and monitoring technology. SovOil has the largest standing armed forces of any corporation in the world, bar none, and it reserves these forces entirely for internal use. The company does not license or hire troops out to other corporations or nations. Some military analysts believe that the combined SovOil security forces represent one of the four or five most powerful and sophisticated military armed forces on the planet. Everyone agrees that SovOil has the largest corporate army on Earth. Fortunately for SovOil's enemies, most of these troops must be reserved for guard and surveillance duties, and cannot be used as assault forces.

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CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: SOVIET WORLD OIL INDUSTRIES All told, SovOil has three hundred thousand troops and secret police. The company can afford to maintain this huge army for a few reasons: 1) SovOil has a huge cash income from the sale of oil and rare oil-derived products. This income puts SovOil in the number seven spot in the C Magazine Top Ten Index. 2) The price of operating in the otherwise economically depressed Soviet Union is low. Manpower is especially cheap, and SovOil pays its soldiers only bare wages. 3) The risk of losing outrageously expensive oil installations far outweighs the cost of paying for security. SovOil invests in top-notch military and security equipment, ordering from clients such as Arasaka, Militech, IEC, Sternmeyer, Mikoyan-Gureyvich, Sukhoi, and Stolbovoy. The corporation's training advisors were taught by the Lazarus Group or original OMON Black Beret instructors, and they use a Lazarus-designed training regimen for their troops. Many of the corporation's security systems were designed and installed by the Arasaka Corporation's world-renowned Security Division. SOVOIL'S FUTURE

SovOil is a wealthy and powerful corporation, with unmatched access to an incredibly valuable commodity, plus a variety of other products and industries. As long as the oil continues to flow, the corporation will thrive and grow. SovOil's leaders know, however, that the oil will not flow for ever, and they are making plans that will carry the company into the next step of its evolution, when the oil is no longer a prime source of income. The first step toward ensuring the company's survival is diversification. SovOil is the major economic force in the Soviet Union and much of eastern Europe, and the company has a guaranteed market share in these areas. The more services and goods the corporation can provide the people of these regions with, the better off the company will be when oil is no longer a mainstay. SovOil is already active in mining, construction, shipbuilding, vehicular design, electronics, research and CHOOH2 agriculture. It is just beginning to move into aircraft, computers, synthetics, CHOOH2 power systems, and general agriculture. By 2030, the board hopes to have a product base diverse enough to support the company after the oil is gone. A major part of the company's post-oil fortunes will depend on how successful SovOil's CHOOH2 endeavors are. SovOil's directorate hopes that the company can begin to compete with Petrochem in terms of volume and quality within the next decade. SovOil is increasing its agricultural base, expanding its CHOOH2 plantations into Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean nations. The company continues to fund extensive

research to improve the efficiency of its fermenting and refining technique, and the number of SovOil CHOOH2 stations and fuel supply contracts is growing daily. SovOil's expansion in the CHOOH2 industry has not gone unnoticed by Petrochem. There is still a great deal of acrimony between the two corporations, even ten years after the war. With competition for the CHOOH2 market heating up, and world oil resources growing scarcer and more valuable, it looks like the two giants may be headed for another violent confrontation. Especially volatile hot spots include the Antarctic, where both corporations have ongoing oil exploration programs, and Western Europe and South America, where the corporations are trying to sell CHOOH2 to the same clients. Petrochem still smarts from its loss of the valuable South China Sea oil fields, and if another confrontation erupts it will no doubt commit every resource to make sure that it emerges on top. Military and stock analysts are keeping a careful watch on the situation. There is justified anxiety that, if another large conflict erupts, the world's supply of CHOOH2 and Hydrocarbon products will drop precipitously, and the entire corporate hierarchy will be destabilized. DOMESTIC PROBLEMS

SovOil's concerns extend beyond its diversification and competition with Petrochem. The corporation operates in a very politically unstable area. The Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics is a shaky alliance at best. Despite Central Committee government and nominal economic cooperation, many of the republics have their own agendas. Hostilities often erupt between republics with long histories of conflict, and bickering and dissent are common. If a political catastrophe was to cause the fragmentation of the USSR, many analysts believe that SovOil would not survive for long as a corporate entity. In order to stabilize the area as much as possible, SovOil has become both overtly and covertly active in the governments of most of the republics and in the Central Committee. The company lobbies publicly for continued alliance, and financially and politically supports pro-union politicians. Behind the scenes, SovOil's secret police actively work, via bribes, intimidation, and assassination, to make sure that the right people come to power and remain there. Although the new Union was envisioned as a self-perpetuating alliance, SovOil has become the primary force responsible for its economic and political stability. Petrochem is aware of SovOil's precarious political situation, and the American corporation has an entire covert department devoted to destabilizing the USSR and interfering with SovOil's unification work. The Central Committee and the republican governments have become a huge battleground for

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MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH Soviet and American corporate and political espionage agents. Although most analysts are expecting another battlefield conflict, it could be the war behind the scenes that determines which corporation will survive and which will fade.

KEY PEOPLE POWER IN SovOil. Many of the megacorps of 2020 have been under die control of one group of people, or 'dynasty,' for ten or twenty years. Arasaka, Militech, IEC, and Petrochem arc all examples. SovOil is one of a few megacorps that are exceptions to that rule. The corporation has never been under dynastic control, and no leader has held power longer than founder Anatoly Novikovo's twelve years. Although the Novikovo family continues to be influential in die leadership of SovOil, it does not exert control over the corporation. Consequently, power in SovOil is more evenly distributed than in other corporations, although it is still wielded by a relatively small group. Considering the size and importance of the corporation, there is a surprising lack of conflict and subterfuge at its top level. Compared to die intrigue-ridden Petrochem Board, SovOil's Inner Board is placid. The only rime power truly concentrates is when the Emergency Powers Clause is invoked. Normally, the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Secret Police Commander, and Security Forces Commander form the advisory committee to die Board of Directors. In times of crisis, they, along with the Chairman of the Board, become the Emergency Committee, and are empowered to act radically on behalf of the corporation without full Board approval. The Chairman of the Board is the leader of die Emergency Committee, but any of the five men can declare the crisis. The Emergency Committee stays in control only until the Inner Board can be convened, briefed, and given the time to make long term plans for a solution to the crisis. Once the Board is in session, die Emergency Committee reverts to an advisory body. In rare situations, such as military emergencies, the Emergency Committee stays in control for extended periods of time, although the Inner Board can veto its decisions with a two-thirds majority vote. This system enables the giant corporation to move rapidly in response to emergencies, while preventing the Emergency Committee from being used as a tool for a corporate coup. No other corporation has a comparable system, but no other corporation used to be a government agency. ARKADY CHERMININO (CORPORATE)

Arkady Cherminino is the current Chairman of SovOil's Board of Directors. At SovOil, the Chairmanship is an elected position with a five year term. Central Board members vote amongst themselves, usually for one of three or four nominees. The Chair-

man is the nominal head of the corporation, but he has no authority over the Board, except to marshal votes and preside over meetings. He does, however, act as spokesman for the company, and he can cast crucial tie-breaking votes. The Chairman is also the head of die Emergency Committee, when it is invoked. Cherminino is in his second term as Chairman of the Board, serving his eighth year as leader of the corporation. He was voted into the chairmanship after a weary and aging Yarno Kurgasyn retired to an estate in the Crimea. Cherminino has been a model leader for the corporation, winning friends in the Board and in the executive, and helping to keep the sometimes fractious Inner Board unified through a crucial period of SovOil's history. Most analysts predict that he will be elected to a third term in 2021, unless some crisis undermines die Board's confidence in him. SovOil has gone into emergency session only twice in Cherminino's tenure: once when two republics were on the verge of civil war, and once when a wave of terrorist activity in the Philippines and Malaysia threatened the corporation's South China Sea operation. Cherminino acquitted himself well each time, and few people doubt his abilities. He is an especially adept diplomat, and he has been instrumental in settling differences between several of the Soviet republics when the Central Committee has failed. He often acts as a consultant for the Central Committee, a position which gives him a unique opportunity to implement SovOil's hidden agenda.

6O

CORPORATE REPORT 2020: SOVIET WORLD OIL INDUSTRIES Cherminino is a dynamic, affable man in his mid-fifties. He was a junior member of the SGKP Subcommittee before SovOil privatized; a New Reformist from White Russia. He has ascended to his high position with a quick mind, winning personality, cosmopolitan attitude, and strong entrepreneurial and diplomatic instincts. Despite his friendly demeanor, he is shrewd enough to recognize a power play when he sees one, and he deals with enemies quickly and finally. He is devoted to the Corporation, and dedicated to preserving the legacy of Anatoly Novikovo.

STATS: INT 10, REF 6, TECH 4, COOL 9, ATTR 7, LUCK 8, MA 7, BODY 8, EMP 8/8, SAVE 8, BTM-3. SKILLS:

Resources 10, Personal Grooming 5, Wardrobe and Style 6, Oratory 4, Human Perception 6, Leadership 7, Social 6, Awareness/Notice 5, Education and General Knowledge 8, Expert SovOil Corporation 10, Expert Diplomat 10, Expert Entrepreneur 7, Russian (Native), English 7, Stock Market 6, Driving 4, Brawling 3, Rifle 2, Handgun 2, Melee 1.

CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Chipware Socket, Interface Plugs, Data Term Link. YEVGENY NOVIKOVO (CORPORATE)

Yevgeny Novikovo is Anatoly Novikovo's eldest son, and part of the family legacy in the corporation. Yevgeny is bright and creative, and he has instituted a number of profitable and imaginative programs and helped to expand the corporation economically and geographically. Yevgeny's drawback is that he is entirely undiplomatic. He has a fiery temper, and very little patience with other people. Although Yevgeny and Cherminino agree in many policy decisions, their personal confrontations are legendary throughout the corporation. The only time they shelve their personality differences is when the Emergency Committee is called into session. The rest of the time, most of their discussions arc carried out loudly and briefly. The irony is that they claim to like each other.

Yevgeny lives in the shadow of his father's memory, and many people believe that his personality results from a burning drive to distinguish himself and his accomplishments from Anatoly Novikovo. Anatoly was a deliberate, thoughtful man; the opposite of his son.

STATS: INT 9, REF 8, TECH 4, COOL 7, ATTR 8, LUCK 3, MA 8, BODY 7, EMP 8/6, SAVE 7, BTM -2. SKILLS:

Yevgeny is in his early forties, and relatively young to have the amount of power that he does. So far, however, he has not steered the corporation wrong. Most people expect that he will jump to an Inner Board position in a few years. Yevgeny is a cosmopolitan man, and he spends much of his time travelling internationally. He can often be found at SovOil installations around the world, breathing fire and personally motivating regional directors and site managers to work to their fullest possible capacity.

Resources 10, Personal Grooming 3, Wardrobe and Style 3, Intimidate 5, Leadership 5, Awareness/Notice 5, Education and General Knowledge 7, Expert Executive 8, Expert SovOil Corporation 10, Expert Oil Business 6, Geology 3, Russian (Native), English 5, Stock Market 4, German 5, Melee 2, Handgun 6, Rifle 1, Driving 4.

CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Chipware Socket, Interface Plugs, Data Term Link, Tech Link, Smartgun Link, Basic Cyberoptic, Times Square Marquee. BORIS SVINARIN (CORPORATE)

Boris Svinarin is the current Deputy Chairman of the Inner Board. Svinarin was appointed deputy when Yarno Kurgasyn 61

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

inherited the Chairmanship, after Anatoly Novikovo's death in 2009. When Kurgasyn retired in 2012, Svinarin was interim chairman for a brief period. He ran for the full chairmanship, but he lost to Arkady Cherminino on the grounds that he had too little Board experience to merit the full chairmanship. Indeed, Svinarin had been on the Board for only two years when he was appointed Deputy Chairman. Svinarin has now been Chief Deputy for over eleven years, and no one doubts his experience any more. Svinarin is a solid, dependable, staid executive. He spends his days in the trenches, implementing Board programs and acting as a liaison between the Board and the executive. He has a subdued personality, and manages to get along with most people. Svinarin is one of the few people genuinely friendly with Yevgeny Novikovo, and he functions as a vital link between Arkady Cherminino and the irascible Chief Executive. Despite his years of service and experience, most insiders doubt that Svinarin will ever ascend to the chairmanship. He lacks the media savvy and diplomatic prowess that a SovOil chairman must have to successfully negotiate the tricky political climate of the USSR. He is, however, an accomplished linguist; a valuable skill these days, even with MRAM chips. Svinarin is a balding, chunky man in his early sixties. He is fond of enormous Cuban cigars and fine vodka. What he loses in style he makes up for in experience, dogged determination, and attitude. He is Georgian by birth, and fiercely proud of his heritage.

STATS: INT 9, REF 5, TECH 6, COOL 7, ATTR 5, LUCK 7, MA 6, BODY 7, EMP 10, SAVE 7, BTM -2. SKILLS: Resources 9, Human Perception 7, Leadership 3, Social 8, Awareness/Notice 8, Education and General Knowledge 7, Expert SovOil 8, Expert Manager 7, Russian (Native), English 7, French 6, German 7, Stock Market 8, Driving 5. CYBERWARE: None. NEONILA NOVIKOVO (CORPORATE) Neonila is Anatoly Novikovo's daughter, and Yevgeny's older sister. When Anatoly died, she inherited ownership and control of his holding company, SovOil Investments. The firm owns 8% of SovOil's World Stock Exchange shares. SovOil Investments is not a SovOil subsidiary, it is a separate corporate entity under which a variety of world-wide portfolios and investments are managed. The SovOil stock represents SOI's largest and most valuable single

investment, however, and much of the company's activity is directed towards the management of that stock and the critical Board seat that it represents. Neonila's ownership and management of the investment company puts her squarely in charge of the largest single portfolio of SovOil stock. As major shareholder, Neonila is an influential Board member, and her votes have been instrumental in determining the course of the company's leadership over the past several years. Neonila is squarely behind Arkady Cherminino, and she continues to back his leadership of the corporation. Neonila and Yevgeny have a tumultuous relationship. Yevgeny doesn't get along with her any better than he does with the corporation's other leaders. They are allies in the preservation of the family fortune and name, however, and they work together to accomplish their common goals. Neonila and Yevgeny have other, younger siblings with careers outside of the corporation. Neonila is forty-seven years old. A former gymnast, she is considered quite beautiful, and is proud of her looks. She has never had cosmetic surgery or body-sculpting, and scorns those who have. She does use cyberware. Some people consider her arrogant, but no one doubts her executive prowess. Neonila is unmarried, and

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CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: SOVIET WORLD OIL. INDUSTRIES

her affairs and dalliances are a favorite topic of the Euro gossiprags and network 'infotainment' shows. STATS: INT 10, REF 7, TECH 3, COOL 10, ATTR 10, LUCK 5, MA 6, BODY 6, EMP 7/5, SAVE 6, BTM-2. SKILLS:

Resources 9, Personal Grooming 6, Wardrobe and Style 6, Leadership 3, Seduction 7, Social 8, Awareness/Notice 6, Education and general Knowledge 6, Expert SovOil Corporation 9, Expert Manager 7, Stock Market 7, Russian (Native), French 7, Athletics 6, Dance 7, Handgun 5, Driving 3.

CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Chipware Socket, Data Term Link, Tech Link, Interface Plugs.

GENERAL. LUPOLD KOREPINO (SOLO) Lupold Korepino is the commander of SovOil's mighty Security Forces, and one of the most powerful military leaders on Earth. SovOil's military power is reflected by the fact that they are one of the few corporations that uses the ranks of General ('Marshall' in the Soviet Union) and Admiral. Flag ranks are almost always reserved for national use only. Customarily, the highest corporate rank is Colonel. No one disputes SovOil's use of these ranks, however. The company has one of the most powerful armies on Earth, and SovOil Marshalls and Admirals can receive their rank only if they have earned it in a national army or navy, or if they are awarded it through a two-thirds vote of the Inner Board. Lupold Korepino has earned his rank. He started his military career in 1985, when the USSR was still the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. When the autonomy movement came in the early nineties, he returned to his native Lithuania to become a leader in their armed forces. He was a Lithuanian Lieutenant General by 2000. In 2001, he was attached to the Central Committee peacekeeping forces, where he continued to distinguish himself. In 2002, when SovOil seceded, he lead one of the few successful assaults on installations seized by what were then SGKP Black Beret Security Forces. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to General. SovOil was impressed with the ease with which Korepino overcame one of Sergei Kirsanov's crack units. In a move that shocked the military world, Korepino accepted the offer of a SovOil commission in 2004. In 2007, when Sergei Kirsanov retired, Korepino was named commander of the SovOil Security Forces. Korepino took control of the SovOil forces just before the outbreak of the Second Corporate War in the South China Sea. Three years later, he had lead SovOil to victory. He has been a Hero of the Corporation ever since.

Korepino is sixty years old, but a physical fitness fanatic, and his body is still in excellent shape. He is a tall, grizzled man, with broad shoulders, close-cropped salt and pepper hair, and a dignified mustache. He is a hands-on commander, and he spends much of his time inspecting the corporations troops and military facilities. He is an intelligent, stern man, and his council, approval, and friendship are highly valued at SovOil. He graduated from the Lazarus Military Studies Institute in 2016, and many people believe that he will be offered a portfolio and board position if he ever retires from active duty. STATS: INT 10, REF 9, TECH 7, COOL 10, ATTR 7, LUCK 4, MA 8, BODY 9, EMP 8/4, SAVE 9, BTM -3. SKILLS: Combat Sense 9, Endurance 8, Intimidate 6, Leadership 10, Awareness/Notice 8, Expert Strategist 10, Expert SovOil Corporation 6, Expert Soldier 7, Expert Soviet Military History 6, Expert International Military Studies 7, Hide/Evade 3, Russian (Native), English 5, Wilderness Survival 6, Karate 6, Dodge and Escape 4, Driving 6, Heavy

63

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

they investigate each other or share information. Valentin Domanevka and Lupold Korepino have always been suspicious of each other. Domanevka was a former Deputy Director of the once-legendary KGB. When the KGB was made a tool of the new Union's Centra/ Committee, it became a policing body for the intelligence units of the fourteen republics. Dissatisfied with the historic agency's new role, Domanevka made the jump into the private sector. He has been with SovOil for eighteen years, and was largely responsible for the design and implementation of the corporation's Secret Police. At his urging, the Secret Police were set apart from the Security Forces, and the Secret Police Directorship was made a Board Advisory Committee position. He is one of the longest-tenured executives at SovOil. At 71, Domanevka is one of the oldest members of the SovOil nucleus. He abandoned his hard-line politics for New Reformism only when it became obvious that the old Soviet Union was doomed. Domanevka is a tall, thin, bald man. He refuses to use cyberware, and he peers out from behind old-fashioned, round spectacles. He is renowned for an uncanny knack of knowing when people are lying or concealing something. One of the most powerful and deeply feared people at SovOil; rumors abound that he was responsible for the imprisonment, torture, and execution of hundreds when he worked for the government in the tumultuous 1980s and'90s.

STATS: INT 10, REF 6, TECH 8, COOL 10, ATTR 3, LUCK 2, MA 7, BODY 5, EMP 9, SAVE 5, BTM -2.

Weapons 5, Melee 4, Handgun 6, Rifle 5, Submachinegun 4, Pilot Rotary Wing/Vectored Thrust 5CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Chipware Socket, Interface Plugs, Smartgun Link, Data Term Link, Vehicle Link, Tech Link, Basic Cyberoptic, Times Square Marquee, Low-Lite™, Infrared, Teleoptics, Realskinn® right Cyberarm with Toolhand. VALENTIN DOMANEVKA (CORPORATE) Valentin Domanevka is the director of SovOil's dreaded Secret Police. The Secret Police are a special department of SovOil that handles certain duties considered too sensitive for the regular Security Forces. SP assignments include all diplomatic espionage and information gathering operations, diplomatic black ops such as bribery, intimidation and assassination, internal affairs and Security Forces investigations, and body-guarding high company officials. The Secret Police do not handle military information gathering or military black operations such as corporate sabotage and extraction. They are completely independent of the Security Forces, and the relationship between the two departments sometimes becomes frigid when

SKILLS:

Resources 8, Interrogation 10, Intimidate 8, Human Perception 9, Leadership 5, Persuasion and Fast Talk 7, Awareness/Notice 8, Education and General Knowledge 7, Expert SovOil Corporation 6, Expert Espionage and Political Intrigue 10, Expert Administrator 7, Expert Investigator 8, Russian (Native), English 9, Handgun 6, Driving 5, Electronic Security 6.

CYBERWARE: None. PETER VAN RIJEN (TECHIE) Peter Van Rijen is the Director of SovOil's Industrial Troubleshooting division. A native of Holland, Van Rijen cut his teeth as an oil well firefighter for Royal Dutch Shell Oil. After leaving Shell he spent many years as freelance oil-business troubleshooter in the North Sea fields and in the United States. Van Rijen had established a name for himself as a top troubleshooter when oil

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CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: SOVIET WORLD OIL INDUSTRIES

STATS: INT 8, REF 8, TECH 10, COOL 10, ATTR 6, LUCK 7, MA 8, BODY 10, EMP 8/4, SAVE 10, BTM-4. SKILLS:

Jury Rig 10, Swimming/Scuba 6, Awareness/ Notice 7, Oil Chemistry 6, Education And General Knowledge 6, Expert Structural/Petrochemical Engineering 9, Expert Firefighting 8, Expert Disaster Management 8, Expert Oil Technology 8, Expert SovOil 5, Dutch (Native), Russian 5, English 4, Mathematics 7, Physics 3, Brawling 5, Handgun 4, Driving 5, Pilot Rotary/Vectored Thrust/Fixed Wing 5, Demolitions 5.

CYBERWARE: Biomonitor, Basic Processor, Interface Plugs, Chipware Socket, Vehicle Link, Tech Link, Data Term Link, Nasal Filters, Radiation Detector, Chemical Analyser, Muscle and Bone Lace, Skinweave, Basic Cyberoptic, Thermograph, LowLite™, Times Square Marquee, Anti-Dazzle, Basic Left Cyberarm with Toolhand, Basic Right Cyberleg. BASIC SOVOIL EXECUTIVES (CORPORATES) Some are former diplomats or government apparatchiks. Most were brought into SovOil after the company was formed. Nearly all speak English, which is still die language of international commerce.

was still a world-wide commodity. When Petrochem and SovOil became the only two companies producing significant quantities of oil in the early 21st century, Van Rijen became the object of a bidding war. SovOil ended up the winner, and Van Rijen has been with the corporation since 2005.

STATS: INT 7 to 10, REF 7/?, TECH 5, COOL 8, ATTR 8, LUCK 5, MA 7, BODY 6 to 10/?, EMP 7/?, SAVE 6 to 10, BTM -2 to -4.

Van Rijen is the best in the business. He is experienced in offshore and dry-field well fires, refinery fires, and tanker and pipeline disasters. He is an accomplished engineer, diver, navigator, and pilot, and he has pioneered many new techniques for petroleum indus-

SKILLS:

try safety and firefighting. The only area he defers to other experts in is mining operations. SovOil has a disaster specialist with more experience in that area than Van Rijen.

Resources 5, Personal Grooming 4, Wardrobe and Style 5, Social 5, Persuasion and Fast Talk 6, Awareness/Notice 5, Education and General Knowledge 5, Expert Manager or Analyst or Accountant or etc. 4-10, Expert SovOil Corp. 3-10, Russian (Native), English 2-6 or Japanese or German 2-6, Brawling 4, Handgun 5, Driving 4.

Van Rijen is a strapping Dutchman of forty years. He keeps in top CYBERWARE: Varies. Far less common than in western corporations.

physical condition in order to withstand the rigors of his job. Despite his age, he continues to take a hands-on approach to disaster management, and he has the scars and cybernetics to prove it. Van Rijen is an easygoing fellow, and is widely liked by his staff, teams, and the SovOil management. He tends to stay out of the political intrigues that dominate the upper echelons of the corporation. Van Rijen lives in Amsterdam, but he spends a great deal of his time at the SovOil headquarters in Moscow, at his Soviet

BASIC SovOil. SECURITY FORCE TROOPS (SOLOS) Installation guards, soldiers, basic troops.

STATS: INT 5 to 9, REF 10/?, TECH 7, COOL 10, ATTR 6, LUCK 5, MA 10, BODY 8 to 10/?, EMP 7/?, SAVE 8 to 10, BTM -3 to -4.

home in the Crimea, and on-site for the corporation. 65

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

SKILLS: Combat Sense 7, Awareness/Notice 7, Expert Espionage 7, Expert Special Ops 7, Expert Security/Bodyguarding 7, Expert Investigation 6, Hide/Evade 6, Interrogation 5, Performance 6, Resist Torture/Drugs 5» Athletics 6, Dodge and Escape 5, Handgun 6, Rifle 6, Melee 6, Karate 6, Heavy Weapons 5, Stealth 6, Driving 5, Disguise or Weaponsmith or Psychological Ops or Electronic Security or Demolitions or other specialty skill 6-10. CYBERWARE: Varies. Common. GEAR: See Uniforms, Equipment and Personnel. VAN RIJEN'S TROUBLESHOOTERS (TECHIES)

Usually specialized in one way or another. From several countries. STATS: INT 8, REF 8, TECH 10, COOL 10, ATTR 6, LUCK 7, MA 8, BODY 10, EMP 8/4, SAVE 10, BTM-4.

SKILLS: Combat Sense 6, Leadership 5 (noncoms/officers), Awareness/Notice 6, Expert Soldier 6, Expert Infantry Ops or Naval Ops 7, Hide/Evade 5, Wilderness Survival 6, Athletics 5, Dodge and Escape 5, Handgun 6, Rifle 7, Submachinegun 5, Melee 4, Judo 5> Heavy Weapons 5, Stealth 4, Driving 5> Pilot Aircraft (various) or Weaponsmith or Demolitions or Security or other specialty skill 6.

SKILLS: Jury Rig 8, Awareness/Notice 7, Education And General Knowledge 4. Two of the following: Expert Structural/Petrochemical Engineering or Expert Firefighting or Expert Disaster Management or Expert Offshore Tech or Diving or Chemistry or Pilot or Mining Technology or Demolitions or other specialties 5-10. Expert Oil Technology 6, Expert SovOil Corporation 5, Brawling 5, Handgun 5, Driving 6. CYBERWARE: Varies. Very common. GEAR: See Uniforms, Equipment and Personnel.

CURRENT MARKET STRATEGY AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

CYBERWARE: Varies. Rare unless necessary. GEAR:

See Uniforms, Equipment and Personnel.

SOVOIL. SECRET POLICE (SOLOS)

Espionage agents, assassins, internal affairs investigators, bodyguards. STATS: INT 7 to 10, REF 6 to 10/?, TECH 8, COOL 10, ATTR 6, LUCK 5, MA 10, BODY 5 to 10/?, EMP 7/?, SAVE 8 to 10, BTM -3 to -4.

OIL AND OIL PRODUCTS

As the larger of only two organizations producing significant quantities of petrochemicals, SovOil has no trouble marketing its oil products. Most petrochemical products are sold directly to other corporations for use in manufacturing or chemical applications, or to nations for use in weapons. Consequently, most of SovOil's petrochemical marketing efforts are targeted toward corporate clients. SovOil spends a great deal of time giving presentations to potential clients and setting up long-term supply deals and trade agreements.

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CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: SOVIET WORLD OIL INDUSTRIES The company uses a variety of slick marketing techniques, including chipped and multi-media presentations, tours, and contract incentives. Despite all this, the company's most valuable marketing asset is that it can undercut Petrochem's prices slightly, and can guarantee delivery of products for longer periods than Petrochem. The only reason SovOil doesn't completely dominate Petrochem is that there is always demand for oil products, at any price. SovOil can't supply every potential client, so a market share is left for Petrochem. Also, Petrochem produces several products that are beyond SovOil's technological capabilities. If Petrochem expands its oil resources in the next few years, analysts expect the competition between the two companies to grow fiercer.

CHOOH2

CHOOH2 is one area in which SovOil has an extensive, highpowered marketing campaign. The company is competing with Petrochem, which produces more of the fuel at a higher level of quality. SovOil keeps its market share by out-pricing Petrochem, and by saturating target areas with extensive advertising campaigns and promotional programs. Western Europe has become a huge marketing battleground between SovOil's and Petrochem's CHOOH2 divisions. The ad war is just spreading to Asia. SovOil still has a smaller overall market share, but it is increasing with time as the company increases output and quality. SovOil is starting a high-level program to lock up some corporate CHOOH2 supply contracts, an area in which the company falls woefully short of its American rival.

The Soviet Union is the only area in which SovOil markets petrochemical products directly to consumers. The company is the only supplier of gasoline and fuel oils, so the marketing techniques are not aimed at competition, but at making sure that the company remains visible and favorably-viewed by the consumers. Oil products are marketed as part of SovOil's Combined line of consumer products, and they receive no special marketing attention.

...THE UNION'S FOURTEEN SOVEREIGN GOVERNMENTS ARE IN CONSTANT FLUX. SOVOIL'S LOBBYISTS WORK FULL TIME TO MAKE SURE THE CORP'S INTERESTS ARE BEING FULFILLED. LOBBYIST ACTIONS ARE COMPLEMENTED BY COVERT ACTIONS OF THE SOVOIL SPECIAL POLICE.

GENERAL CONSUMER PRODUCTS AND ENERGY

SovOil also markets a line of chemical and manufactured consumer goods. Most of SovOil's manufactured goods are synthetic or metal products, or construction-oriented materials. SovOil's consumer goods are marketed world-wide under a variety of trade names. Advertising is standardized, with the company buying regular packages of air and display time on networks, marquees, and billboards in all of its client nations. Marketing and sales are higher in both Europe and Asia than in the US, where the corporation has yet to penetrate significantly. SovOil supplies natural gas for cooking and heating purposes, coal and coal products, and electricity from oil, coal, hydroelectric, and nuclear power plants. The company has complete monopoly on these items inside the Soviet Union, however, so there is no question of marketing. SovOil does keep its energy prices reasonable to maintain public good-will. HEAVY INDUSTRY

SovOil's heavy industry products are sold, like its oil, almost exclusively to corporate and national clients. SovOil markets heavy industry products in the same way as oil, and industrial goods are often sold as part of the same trade contract as petrochemical products. SovOil has long-term supply contracts to deliver steel and heavy manufactured goods to corporations that will go on to incorporate them into finished products. Clients include Sato Shipping, IEC, EBM, and others.

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND LOBBYING

SovOil has a world-wide public relations program. The PR department has several major goals: 1) Overcome the stigma that still haunts Soviet organizations in the West. 2) Boost visibility in North America, in the US in particular. 3) Overcome growing world concern over pollution. SovOil is a major polluter, and oil spills and chemical waste scandals arc common. While the troubleshooters handle the physical damage control, the corporation has high level spin-teams to handle PR damage control. 4) Boost world confidence in the corporation, despite the unstable political climate of the USSR. The company also has a large political lobbying department that is active in the governments of many nations. A large part of SovOil's lobbying power is reserved for domestic politics. The Soviet Union's fourteen sovereign governments are in constant flux. Governments are always being overturned, and relationships and tensions between the republics are rarely stable. SovOil's lobbyists work full time to make sure that the corporation's interests are being fulfilled in the republican governments. The lobbyist legal actions are complemented by the covert actions of the SovOil Special Police, and the two organizations have been successful so far in maintaining SovOil's diplomatic agenda. 67

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH executives the whipping boys of the international corporate humor circle. (Ex: Q: How many SovOil execs does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: None, they haven't invented them yet.) As a result, SovOil executives are often dismissed by young, inexperienced executives from other corporations. This can be a deadly error, since SovOil's style deficiencies have no reflection on the power or influence of the corporation. Many a young executive head has rolled after a corporate treaty or contract negotiation has been fouled up by such ignorant levity. Many corporations now issue standing orders to their young executives to tread lightly when discussing fashion around senior SovOil personnel. Older, more experienced execs usually need no coaching.

Contrast in styles: New and old-line SovOil executives

UNIFORMS, EQUIPMENT AND PERSONNEL SOVOIL EXECUTIVES SovOil executives have no set dress code, other than being required to wear acceptable corporate clothing. This has produced a style schism among SovOil executives. The flashy western Eurostyles have only just begun to spread eastward, and there is still a certain resistance to them among the older, more entrenched executives. Consequently, it is usually only the younger, more flamboyant corporatcs who flaunt the innovative cuts and patterns common to current executive fashion. Most of the old guard, who have been with SovOil since it was a government agency, tend to stick to more conservative styles. 'Conservative' in Soviet executive culture has a different meaning than in Japan or America. In the West (and ironically), the Far East, conservative means wearing the most unadorned of the current styles, in a subtle color or pattern, with basic accessories. In SovOil, conservative means wearing what your rather wore. Older SovOil executives often sport styles that can be traced back to the first decade of the twenty-first century; the nineties, and in extreme cases, the nineteen-eighties. In a world where last month's fashions can be hopelessly out of date, this tendency to stick to older styles has made older SovOil

Unfortunately, the conflict over style also plagues the company internally. With no clear dress policy, many older, senior executives attempt to enforce their conservative styles upon their own departments, leading to friction with younger personnel who are more tied into current fashion. Even in departments where this isn't happening, there is an obvious tension between the young and old executives. Fashion is only one symptom of this conflict, which can ultimately be traced back to the fundamental changes that wracked the Soviet Union twenty-five years ago. Many of the younger personnel have only vague memories of the old Soviet Union, and no respect for conventions or beliefs that some of the older executives may still adhere to. Fortunately, the corporations strong leadership and firm mandate has helped to preserve unity, and minimize the effects of the executive schism. Although SovOil has no overall dress code, there are a few accessory requirements for all executive personnel. All executives must wear a SovOil lapel pin when at work or on official duty, and all must keep a company ID/Data card with them at all times. Also, unlike many corporations, SovOil executives are required to keep their company passport on their person at all times. The passports add an extra measure of security, and SovOil executives may be asked by Security Forces or Secret Police to produce their papers at any time, especially if they are at a sensitive facility. Failure to produce the papers can result in a reprimand, or at a secure site, in arrest. The passport requirement has foiled many saboteurs and spies who made the critical error of assumption, and went in with forgeries or stolen copies of only the standard corporate ID card SovOil executives are permitted to carry weapons on company grounds only if they are former Security Force or Secret Police personnel, receive special permission, or are of senior grade. Regardless of previous experience, all must be trained and certified by the Secret Police before being permitted to carry weapons. At some facilities, especially refineries or other petrochemical installations with extreme fire danger, no one except for specially trained troops are permitted to carry firearms. All executives may

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CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: SOVIET WORLD OIL. INDUSTRIES

carry non-lethal weapons. Built-in cyberweapons are subject to the same restrictions as regular weapons. SECURITY FORCES Unlike many corporate military operations, no one mistakes the SovOil Security Forces for glorified guards. They are a fullytrained and well-equipped army and navy, with close to 300,000 personnel. Troops have standard and dress uniforms, and are permitted to wear civilian clothes only when on leave. The distinction between guard and assault duty is fine, with little difference in training or equipment except in specialized situations. Security Forces are expected to be able to handle either guard or standard military duty equally well. SovOil makes no attempt to conceal its guards and soldiers, or to make them less threatening to the public. When on duty, Security Forces troops are always well-armed, and in full battle uniform. The company's assets are too valuable to jeopardize by putting the guards in suits and limiting them to pistols and other concealable weapons. SovOil's management does not go out of its way to make the troops intimidating, it merely takes a completely pragmatic view when it comes to military and security arrangements. Basic Security Forces receive sixteen weeks of basic training and another four to twelve weeks of specialty training. Those who are selected for special duties may receive yet more training, lasting from four weeks to a year. SovOil recruiters target the general populace, competing with the various republics for high school graduates and young, unemployed people who need work. The corporation offers higher prestige and better training than most republic armies can offer, although the wages are slim. Also, many candidates are attracted by the chance of a corporate job after enlistment. SovOil offers basic enlistments of two, four and six years, with incentives for longer enlistment and re-enlistment. There are special bonuses for a 'full' enlistment often years and a 'lifetime' commitment of 20 years. Officers must have college degrees, or qualify for candidacy by test. THE INFANTRY The Infantry branch of the Security Forces, commonly called the Army, is the mainstay of SovOil's defense, with over 150,000 troops. At any given time, about 50,000 of these are posted as corporate guards around the world, and the rest are on active duty as soldiers. The standard infantry uniform is a set of fatigues in a custom pine forest camouflage called Taiga. In the basic uniform, the shirt is tucked in, rather than hanging loose as with American BDU's. Over the fatigues come webbing and boots made in the USSR. Standard headwear is a beret. There are a variety of accessories, including cold weather boots, gloves, hats, and greatcoats, light field jackets, hot weather gear, and different camouflage pat-

terns. (See below for cold-weather gear.) Officers wear the same combat outfits as enlisted soldiers. Both officers and enlisted men wear die rank on the collar tabs, die name on the right breast, the unit and specialty patches on both shoulders, and the company logo on the left breast and beret flash, or on die helmet. The soldier's basic field equipment kit includes a primary firearm (usually a Stolbovoy St-5 assault rifle with 4-12 magazines), a handgun (die Stolbovoy St-2 pistol with four magazines), canteens, field rations, survival equipment and sleeping materials, a field radio, an SP 20 helmet, SP 18 body armor, a metal blade knife, a flashlight, rope, and Shanling field rations (See Corpbook Two). There are custom kits for special assignments and special ops work. Guards wear die same basic uniform as die infantry, and use many of die same accessories. Instead of die Taiga camouflage pattern, however, corporate guard uniforms are usually a dark beige color. The basic guard kit includes the webbing, a primary firearm or non-lethal weapon that varies depending on the assignment, a handgun, a flashlight, wrist binders, a radio, and a metal blade knife. Facilities guards often wear camouflage and full infantry kits. Infantry and guard dress uniforms are virtually the same. They are dark beige in color, and include belted tunics, dark boots, and white gloves. Enlisted men wear berets, and officers wear

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MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH Naval officers wear khaki pants and a khaki shirt, deck shoes, and white wheel caps. Officer ranks appear on epaulets, name on die left breast, and unit, specialty, and company logo on the right breast and cap. The shoulders are bare. Officers may wear sidearms, but often don't bother. Naval officer dress uniforms are virtually die same as Infantry officer dress uniforms, but navy blue rather than beige-colored. Also, the braiding is replaced by epaulet stripes. The basic Naval survival kit includes fresh water, rations, an insulated anti-shark basket, a flare gun, a life vest, an SP 18 armored combat vest, mirror, a radio locator/emergency beacon, specially insulated water suit, and sunscreen. Equipment and weapons vary depending on die assignment. Naval guards and assault troops often carry the same equipment as Infantry troops. Naval special ops troops use whatever equipment and camouflage is appropriate to the mission. SECRET POLICE

The secret police have no standard uniform, choosing to use plain clothes whether on the job or off. Depending on the assignment, the clothes worn can span the full spectrum of styles, from the stodgy conservatism of the old-guard to the flashy Euro- and Asian-styles of the young executives. When meeting amongst themselves, the secret police tend to stick to conservative patterns and accessories, but in current cuts and fashions. Secret police wear no identifying marks or insignia other than the required SovOil lapel pin. They are issued badges and special passports and identification/data cards, but these, along with all other identifying marks, are often discarded when the agent goes undercover.

Soviet- style wheel caps. Often, no weapons are carried. If guards are assigned to active duty while in dress uniforms, for diplomatic functions or the like, a sidearm in cross-draw position, boot knife, and micro-radio may be added. Dress webbing is brown leather. Badges and insignia are in the same positions as on the combat uniform, but medals and 'fruit salad' are added. Shoulder braiding also indicates rank and unit. SovOil infantry dress uniforms are different from those of most corporations, which use current-style suits as the basic pattern for ceremonial outfits.

There are some items of equipment particular to the Secret Police. They use small, concealable radios with hidden microphones and discreet earpieces rather than the full-size headset radios issued to standard troops and guards. They also wear concealable SP 12 armor vests under their clothes. Secret Police are proud of their organization, and do their best to distinguish themselves from the regular Security Forces. To this end, Secret Police usually use Arasaka weapons, rather than the Stolbovoy firearms favored by the Security Forces. Although it is discouraged by the organization, Secret Police officers often get a special tattoo on some part of their body usually hidden by clothing. The tattoo is a small, abstract design featuring a hawk, and it can in no way be traced exclusively to SovOil.

THE NAVY

SovOil's Naval forces have their own uniforms and equipment packages. The basic Naval uniform for enlisted sailors is similar to that worn by the Soviet National Navy for several years: blue slacks, blue kerchiefed overshirt, red and white striped T-shirt, and a tufted hat. Accessories include deck shoes, cold weather gear, and tropical gear. Seamen wear their rank on both shoulders (with hashmarks on the sleeves), name on the left breast, and company logo, unit, and specialty on the right breast. The company logo also appears on the hat-flash. Naval personnel are trained for, and issued, weapons, but they seldom carry them unless on a security posting. There is no actual dress outfit for naval enlisted troops, other than a cleaned and pressed standard uniform with decorations and citations added. Since SovOil sailors usually wear Tshirts and jeans when on the job, a clean version of the standard uniform is usually ceremonial enough for them.

Secret Police are fond of Cyberware, especially Cyberoptics and Cyberaudio which can be used for surveillance, and concealed weapons which can be used for bodyguarding and assassination. The Secret Police have a laboratory dedicated to producing special weapons and equipment for use in black operations. Much of this equipment is known only through rumor, although a few items have been captured and copied by other corporations.

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CORPORATE REPORT 2020: SOVIET WORLD OIL. INDUSTRIES Note: On die FNFF reliability table, all Stolbovoy weapons jam only on a roll of 1. Also, all Stolbovoy weapons are Common in die Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and Rare in die US

TROUBLESHOOTERS

As befits their freewheeling style, the Troubleshooters are a casual group. They have no dress codes, or even trends, and actively flaunt some company regulations such as the lapel pin. Due to their necessity, and the tremendously difficult and dangerous nature of their work, the company is inclined to Jet their behavior slide. Company psychologists suggest that the Troubleshooters' wild off-the-job behavior is a cathartic release for the tremendous on-the-job pressures that they must face. Others believe that die Troubleshooters are merely wild, reckless individuals who exploit the great freedom and high wages they receive from die company. The Troubleshooters have carte blanche with equipment, as expensive high tech is often necessary for their work, and frequently destroyed by use. Peter Van Rijen and his staff do not hesitate to use this privilege, and the Troubleshooters have a large reserve of vehicles and equipment, including American and Soviet vectored thrust aircraft, tilt-rotor aircraft, satellite communications, fire suits, heat-resistant cybernetics and body modifications, special chemicals and explosives, diving equipment, and wheeled and tracked vehicles. At the top of the list is top-notch portable medical and surgical facilities imported from Japan and the United States. The only thing that all troubleshooters have in common is a biomonitor. Peter Van Rijen requires that all field personnel have one of the units implanted. Troubleshooter biomonitors are specially manufactured by Raven Microcybernetics to monitor a variety of physical and toxicological parameters, and broadcast that information to a central receiving station. See below for more information. Militech Second-Chance Cyberdocs are also common (see Corpbook Two).

STOLBOVOY ST-5 ASSAULT RIFLE

A light, sturdy bullpup weapon. The St 5 was designed to withstand die rugged environmental conditions in the Soviet Union. Using innovative design and special lubricants, Stolbovoy has created a weapon that can operate reliably under the most adverse conditions, including heat, cold, mud, dampness, sand and grit, lubricant contamination, and corrosive environments. One of die toughest, most reliable assault rifles in die world; troops are quoted as saying, "It never breaks!" Comes with iron sights, but can be scoped. In long and short barreled versions. 900cb. 1800eb smartchipped. RIF -1N C/R 5D6(5.45mm) 30 1/30 VR400m STOLBOVOY ST-2 PISTOL

VEHICLES. EQUIPMENT, AND WEAPONS STOLBOVOY ARMS

Continuing Stolbovoy's tradition of extremely durable and reliable weapons, die St 2 is a handgun built with a composite slide and receiver and a patented action that virtually cleans itself of dust and grit. 450eb, 850eb smartchipped. POJC/R2D6+3(10mm) 10 2 VR 50m

Shortly after the Soviet Union began allowing private industry, Stolbovoy Arms was created in Lithuania. The Soviet armed forces had gone without a major personal weapons redesign for several decades, and most troops were still using variations on the Kalashnikov Action rifle, including the world famous AK series, and the later AKM, AKS, and A-80 lines. All of these weapons had elements in common, and they sported many of the same strengths and weaknesses. By die time the new Union was founded, and republics were arming their own forces, the time was right for the introduction of a new generation of Soviet made firearms. Stolbovoy Arms, previously a maker of hunting rifles and shotguns, rose to the challenge. The company, located in the peaceful seaside town of Giruliai, has since become one of the largest weapons houses in Eastern Europe, and a key supplier to SovOil.

STOLBOVOY STS SUBMACHINEGUN

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MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH The last item in Stolbovoy's line of basic weapons, the StS Submachinegun also incorporates the company's unique designs, and is one of the finest submachineguns around. Available with collapsable or fixed stocks. Comes with iron sights, but can be fitted with a variety of aiming systems. 600eb, 1200 eb smartchipped. SMG -1J C/R 2D6+3(10mm) 32 30 VR 400m RAVEN MICROCYBERNETICS ADVANCED BIOMONITORING SYSTEM

This is the unit designed for, and used by, the SovOil troubleshooters. It is just beginning to find its way into service with armies and special ops groups around the world. The Advanced Biomonitoring System works much like a regular biomonitor, in that it keeps track of the physical state of the person in whom it is implanted. The ABS tracks heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, respiration, and blood and tissue toxins. It flags potentially dangerous readings with visual or auditory warnings. This information can be displayed on a wrist implant, in cyberoptics, or it can be broadcast to a remote receiver for display on a VDT. In this way, a control center can monitor its troops or workers from a distance, and warn of possible injury or poisoning, or respond immediately to aid incapacitated personnel. The actual implant is a disk five cm across and .5 cm thick with several microfine wire probes. It is usually positioned behind the sternum. A three year lithium battery is placed in a subdermal pocket in the chest or abdomen, and can be changed without surgery. The transmitter has a range of two kilometers, and each unit has its own transmission code to prevent cross-talk. Surgery: MA, Code: ABS, H-Loss: (1D6/2)-! SUKHOI Su-441 TILTROTOR TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT

This is Sukhoi Aircraft's copy of die popular VC-22K aircraft, die most popular in the tiltrotor series built by Bell-Boeing of the United States. It is slightly behind the US version in avionics and fire control, but it is a tough, reliable aircraft with the good allweadier capability so important in the huge Soviet Union. The 441 can carry 20 fully-armed troops, operate in adverse conditions, and mount a variety of systems, including gun pods and missiles and external fuel tanks. A power transmission system allows the aircraft to fly and land on one engine. It is used by SovOil Security Forces, and by the Offshore and Land-Based Oil divisions. Su 441 aircraft can also land and float on water. Powerplant: two Sukhoi NN 2 turboshaft engines. Max Speed: 300kts. Operational Radius: 1200-2000km. 10 SP, 220 SDP.

or troops and their equipment. It has no fixed weapons, but it can mount machineguns in the doors on both sides, and use them during flight. Powerplant: One IEC Sidewinder II engine. Max Speed: 200kts. Operational Radius: 600km. 45 SP, 110 SDR STERNMEYER COLD WEATHER COMBAT GEAR

SovOil troops are often called upon to operate and fight in the bitter cold of the northern Soviet and Siberian winter. Conditions like these can immobilize unprepared troops ill-equipped to deal with -60 to 70° C temperatures. Sternmeyer AG, a German arms corporation that supplies military organizations around the world, developed a new generation of winter combat gear using advanced insulating and armoring materials, and reactive fabrics. The most current model, G12, has excellent insulating and wind and water repelling characteristics, yet is thin enough to breathe, and permit good mobility. The G12 suit is made with a reactive fabric that can vent waste heat in times of exertion without compromising overall insulation. It comes in a variety of camouflage patterns. The typical outfit includes boots, overpants, a hooded overcoat, a balaclava, and gloves. The balaclava has a battery powered system that gently warms the air coming through the mouth and nose. The battery is good for 24 hours. Webbing and armor can be worn over or under the outfits. The outfits can protect soldiers in temperatures down to -70° C and in high winds, but are not recommended for use in temperatures over freezing. Cose 300eb for jackets, 200eb for pants, 50eb for gloves, 50eb for balaclava, and 100eb for boots. Entire outfit can be bought at a package discount of 575eb. Packs, webbing and accessories are available. The suit can be packed and carried when not in use. Note: The Sternmeyer G-12 suit has EV +1 when worn as an ensemble. Armor can increase this. SOVIET MILITARY INDUSTRIES ARMORED GREATCOAT

For guards and soldiers working in cold weather conditions that aren't extreme enough to demand full combat gear, there is the SMI armored greatcoat. This item is also issued to SovOil corporate guards who are working in public situations where the Sternmeyer suit might be inappropriate. The greatcoat is good in temperatures down to -20° C, and in high winds and rain. It has built in armor at SP 14. When buttoned, the coat protects virtually the entire body. Webbing and gun belts can be worn over the coat, but, usually, no other armor is added. The coat is belted at the waist, and comes in olive green, brown, or black. Cost: 250eb. Note: The SMI Armored Greatcoat has EV +1.

MIKOYAN MI-50 VECTORED THRUST VEHICLE

A Soviet vehicle very similar to the McDonnell AV-4, it is popular with corporations and military and police organizations in die new Union and Eastern Europe. This aircraft uses many western components, including IEC engines. It can carry six medical personnel

BEARSKIN HAT

Standard issue to all SovOil cold-weather troops. Usually worn with the SMI greatcoat. Cost: 50eb. Can be armored to SP 10 for an extra 25eb.

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Corporate Report 2020: SOVIET World OIL INDUSTRIES

Ensign Jami Tealov testing the O'Niell shark basket under realistic conditions O'NIELL SHARK BASKET

fireproof, rip-stop covering designed to reflect heat and shed burning liquids and embers. Below that are layers of insulating and armored fabric. Beneath the outer layers is a special, flameretardant, insulating body-suit. Liquid nitrogen flows through a network of micro-tubules between the outer layers and the body suit. Hardshell plates protect the arms and legs. The suit fabrics must do the double duty of resisting extreme heat on the outside, and not freezing solid because of the liquid nitrogen inside. The body suit protects the wearer more from the liquid nitrogen than from heat. Only advanced materials make this possible, and these suits were nothing more than a dream eight years ago.

Developed by marine researchers and produced and marketed by Californian aquatic sports company O'Niell, the Shark Basket is the only device that has been proven truly effective in protecting drifting personnel from sharks. The basket is a multicompartmented inflatable ring supporting a sealed, kevlar fiber bag. The bag is big enough to hold one person with a life jacket and bare supplies. The bag prevents blood from dispersing into the water, blocks the body's electric field, helps to insulate the user, and is a dark color to cut visual signature. The basket does not armor the diver; it just presents a package which the shark docs not recognize as potential food. Sharks rarely attack baskets. Collapsable for storage in a small pouch, baskets inflate with a small CO^ charger. Standard issue to SovOil personnel serving in offshore stations and naval units in the shark-infested South China seas. 50eb. One use.

The suit comes with a matching head and shoulder piece which incorporates a helmet, and a special face shield. A back-pack is integral to the suit, and connects to the helmet and body. The back-pack is protected by the suit, and contains a half hour air and power supply, and the pumping and condensation unit for the nitrogen cooling system. A computer system monitors the suit functions and external temperature, and transmits this data to the wearer through cybernetics or a wrist display. The suit telemetry can also be sent to a remote monitoring station. For mild fire situations, the suit can be used without power, internal air, or liquid nitrogen.

FlORELLI-SANTINO DE ITALIA SPA ANTI-FIRE SUIT

This suit was developed by the small, Italian engineering house of Fiorelli-Santino for use in all heavy-duty firefighting applications. It is standard equipment for the troubleshooters, who must often venture through flaming oil and into burning oil rigs in the course of their duties. The suit is constructed from a double layered sandwich of several fabrics. The outermost is a

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MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH The suit's resistance time depends on the temperature. The suit is good to limit of its air supply at 800° Farenheit, 427° C. It loses 5 minutes duration for every added 300° F, 149° C. Maximum recommended heat is 2000° F, 1093° C, for no more than 10 min. In a pinch, the suit can take five minutes of 2500° F, 1370° C. It can take spot exposure to extreme temperatures for brief periods. This enables the suit to shed burning petroleum and plastics. When the suit is overexposed, it loses integrity rapidly. It will fail completely 1D6 minutes after overexposure. Cost: 1500eb. SOVOIL

CERAMIC PROJECTILES

These are a type of safety round used by the SovOil security forces in situations where regular bullets might penetrate a petroleum storage tank and ignite an inferno, or puncture a ship's hull. The bullets are made from a super-dense, brittle ceramic developed by SovOil. The ceramic bullets penetrate soft targets such as flesh, but shatter into fine particles on impact with metal or other hard substances. The ceramic is less dense than lead, and the bullets do less damage than lead bullets of equal caliber, but they will penetrate fabric armor, thin plastic, and bone. The bullets do not ricochet, but flying particles can injure eyes and break skin. The ceramic does not cause feed problems in automatic weapons. Note: Ceramic bullets cost 11/2 times normal bullets of equal caliber. They do 3/4 damage to flesh and armor, and 1/4 damage to metal, glass and other hard substances. Shotgun loads also available.

KEY OFFICES AND FACILITIES SOVOIL HEADQUARTERS

The SovOil World Headquarters is a sprawling, ten-story building on Shcherbinka Prospekt, near the center of Moscow. The building has been SovOil's headquarters ever since the corporation was a government agency, and it is showing its age. Although a new, modern headquarters tower is under construction on the outskirts of town, it will be two to three years before it is ready to enter service. Ironically, many of SovOil's recently constructed regional and international offices are much more modern than the dilapidated headquarters. ARCHITECTURE AND LAYOUT

The headquarters building is a huge, squat affair, covering a large area. The building is made from stone and masonry, and is rather drab in appearance. The only clue to the identity of the owner is the legend "Soviet World Oil Industries" and the company logo etched

in the glass of the main entrance doors. The building was originally erected in the 1970s to be government offices for the old Soviet Union, and it followed the undistinguished precedent established by over fifty years of unimaginative socialist construction. The building is, however, very sturdy. The masonry walls are thick, and the building can be made nearly impregnable, even in riots. The headquarters building is enormous, covering an entire city block. It is square, with a spacious central courtyard. The building was not designed with roof-top landing pads, but there is space for several tiltrotor or vectored thrust aircraft in the courtyard. Aircraft can land there in most conditions, but in extreme wind, rain, or snow they must divert to a local airport and passengers must shuttle to the headquarters by limousine. INTERIORS AND FACILITIES

The SovOil headquarters building is as drab and utilitarian on the inside as on the outside. The only areas conceding anything to style or comfort are the lobby, the senior executive areas, and the guest apartments. There is little in the way of superfluous decor or adornment. Even in the large lobby, which has a security station, a reception desk, and passages to elevators, stairs, and the first floor hallways, the only decoration is a large portrait of Anatoly Novikovo hanging behind the receptionists. The courtyard has a small landscaped area, but it is usable only in good weather and is subject to noise from aircraft. The SovOil headquarters is short on facilities common in many newer corporate towers. It has an infirmary, but surgery cases must be transported to the hospital down the road. There are no on-site barracks for security troops, and no weapons-firing areas. All parking is on the street except for a small underground lot for senior executive and security use only. There are guest apartments, but they are rarely used. Most employees live in the nearby SovOil housing complex, and would rather go home, even after a late night. The headquarters does have several cafeterias and lunch rooms, conference rooms and lecture halls, a loading dock, a large underground storage area, and top-notch security, communications, and computer systems. There are also armored limousines for executives, and usually two aircraft on call in the courtyard, with others ready to shuttle in from Sheremetyevo Airport or Domodedovo Airport. SovOil's leaders have long taken the pragmatic view that the headquarters building was sufficient for their needs, but they recently decided that it was time for an upgrade. A new, state-of-the-art, eighty-five story tower is being built, with complete facilities and current architecture and design. Some departments will begin moving in within fourteen months, but the project won't be completed until 2023.

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SovOil World headquarters, Moscow per floor, plus ten on outside posts. More can be brought in on short notice if necessary. Security is coordinated from a command center on the second floor. Personnel are supplemented by cameras and metal detectors.

PERSONNEL

The SovOil headquarters building has the offices for all of the senior executives and department heads, and offices and meeting rooms for the Inner Board. All of the company's divisions and many of its major subsidiaries are represented in the building. Senior executive and board offices are all located on the top floor, along with much of the building's sensitive property and information. Seven thousand people work in the building.

SECURITY FORCES AND SECRET POLICE HEADQUARTERS The Security Forces and Secret Police are not headquartered in the main building. Instead, these divisions have their own satellite buildings. The satellite buildings are small, five story structures across the street from the main corporation headquarters. Each is off limits to unauthorized personnel, and has the operations centers and senior staff offices for its respective organization. Each is guarded by its own personnel, has its own cafeteria and storage facilities, and serves about 500 employees. There are no secret passages between any of the three buildings. All are served by the infirmary, computer, and aircraft facilities in the main building.

SECURITY

Security at the headquarters building is extremely tight, with uniformed guards and plainclothes Secret Police personnel on duty at all times. All security personnel are armed, and under the unified command of the building security director, a Security Forces Lt. General. This chafes the Secret Police somewhat, but they recognize the efficiency of a unified command. All access is controlled, and employees must present their ID card upon entry, and their passport if it is requested. There are several stations in the lobby, where employees are checked upon entry. In addition to the main entrance, there are smaller North and South entrances on the sides of the building. They are open only during business hours, and also under tight security. There are 60 security personnel on duty at any given time; about five

The Secret Police Headquarters is also the site of the Secret Police Training Academy, where prospective agents receive classroom instruction in investigation, interrogation, and espionage. There is a camp in the woods a few hours outside of Moscow where they learn combat technique, infiltration, demolitions, and weaponscraft.

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MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

In the deepest basement sub-level of the Secret Police Headquarters is 'The Cellar," the infamous prison where enemies of SovOil are interrogated, detained, and occasionally executed. Only specially authorized personnel are allowed access to The Cellar. Some very famous people who have disappeared are rumored to be held there. REGIONAL OFFICES SovOil has regional offices throughout the world, although they are far more common in Europe and Asia than in the United States. The regional offices are all smaller than the main headquarters, but most are more modern and more tastefully designed and appointed. In many corporations, getting moved to the home office is considered a move upward. In SovOil, with its drab headquarters (and deplorable Moscow weather), a transfer to Tropical Asia or Western Europe is an often sought after reward. SovOil has major regional offices in St. Petersburg, Tashkent, Vladivostok, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Hong Kong, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Bandar Seri Bagawan ( B r u n e i ) , Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Sydney, Nairobi, Algiers, Caracas, Rio De Janiero, Havana, Rosslyn/Washington D.C., Night City, Druzhnaya (Antarctica), and virtually every capital city in Eastern and Western Europe. Minor offices span the world.

SPECIAL FACILITIES REFINERIES SovOil has industrial facilities all over the world. Like Petrochem, SovOil's most valuable installations are its large petroleum refineries. The massive Shevchenko installation, at the junction of several major pipelines and terminals on the shore of the Caspian Sea, is the largest refinery in die world. Its pipe networks, distillation towers and tank farms cover several square miles of land and waterfront. Although many of the functions at the modern complex are automatic or roboticized, the refinery has over 20,000 workers. Shevchenko is a key part of the SovOil empire, and a major military and espionage target for all of SovOil's enemies. There arc over 1500 soldiers and 250 firefighters stationed at the complex, and a troubleshooting team is on call at all times. 15,000 of the employees are oil workers, roughnecks, dock workers, vehicle operators, service employees, and so on. The rest are executives, managers, Secret Police, and other white collar employees. A special Secret Police unit shares the security duty, and all access and movement is strictly controlled. Only security and fire personnel, troubleshooters, senior executives, and other specially authorized personnel have all-access permits. Most other employees are restricted to specific duty areas. Shevchenko security personnel also oversee part of the huge Trans-Ustyurt Pipeline.

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CORPORATE REPORT 2020: SOVIET WORLD OIL INDUSTRIES Although most of the refinery employees live in the nearby town of Shevchenlco, the refinery is a small city unto itself. It has apartments for several thousand of the workers and troops, restaurants and movie theaters, bars, brothels (with SovOil-certified male and female prostitutes), barracks, an airfield, a surgery-capable infirmary, and several fire stations. There is also a large offshore terminal where several surface oil tankers can tie up and onload or offload oil and petroleum products. A shoreline wharf can dock freighters that need to offload bulk cargoes for the refinery. A battery of aircraft are available to shuttle troops and troubleshooters, and aid firefighters with aerial drops.

EACH PLATFORM HAS 1 4O TO 18O PEOPLE ON BOARD

WORKING 2 WEEKS ON, TWO OFF UNDER BRUTAL CONDITIONS. STAFF, FIREMEN, SECURITY, AND OIL WORKERS ALONG WITH DEFENSE SYSTEMS, INFIRMARIES, CONTROL CENTERS, DRILLING EQUIPMENT, AND POWER

SovOil's other petroleum refineries range in size from a quarter the size of Shevchenko, to almost as large. Most of them are similar in terms of he facilities available and the proportions of different types of workers. SovOil has CHOOH2 refineries, but they tend to be smaller than the oil refineries. They are also less secure, since CHOOH2 is a renewable resource, and SovOil's current CHOOH2 technology is not an espionage item. By no means should it be assumed that security is lax at CHOOH2 refineries, however. It is simply not as strict as at oil facilities. At dual purpose refineries, where petroleum and CHOOH2 are both processed, oil protocol takes precedence.

GENERATORS ARE COMPRESSED INTO SEVEN

DECKS ANCHORED IN WATER UP TO 2OOM DEEP..

OFFSHORE OIL PLATFORMS Much of SovOil's crude oil and natural gas is pumped from offshore oil platforms. The company has over 1000 offshore drilling and pumping platforms, and several enormous recreational platforms (flotels) and Multi-Service Vessels (MSVs). Each offshore platform can sink up to thirty wells, covering a wide area. The platforms are fixed to the sea bed, and designed to withstand even the worst typhoons. Usually, platforms are gathered in close groups of four or five, with many groups scattered over each oil field. Pipelines link platform groups together, and connect the groups to onshore oil terminals and refineries and offshore loading platforms.

Platforms have good facilities, including defense systems, infirmaries (non-surgical), cafeterias, command centers, diving facilities, diving bells and minisubs, patrol boats, cranes, one or two aircraft pads, recreation rooms, video collections and libraries. All of this, along with the drilling equipment, tanks, power systems, and other machinery, is compressed into seven to nine decks, anchored in water up to 200m deep by giant concrete legs. There is a 50% chance that there is an aircraft present at any given time. All offshore platforms have radar-controlled anti-aircraft guns and missiles, active and passive sonar, and underwater cameras and lights.

Each platform has between 140 and 180 people on board, including the commander, staff, firefighters, divers, Security Forces, and oil workers. Crew often work two weeks on, two weeks off, although some personnel, such as divers and flotel staff", can have four or six week shifts. Crews on experimental rigs, such as those in the Antarctic, also have longer shifts. The pay is good, and the time off is nice, but the work is brutal and dangerous. Usually, only 5% of the personnel are security troops or Secret Police. There is simply no space for any more. Reinforcements are brought in from flotels and MSVs when necessary.

FLOTELS Although offshore platforms are well equipped, they can not be considered pleasant by any stretch of the imagination. The recreational facilities are cramped, and rapidly wear thin. Part of the problem is alleviated by flotels. These are huge, mobile rigs that float on enormous metal pontoons, and have crews of 100 to 200. There is usually one assigned to each field. The flotels can travel from rig to rig, and usually have regular aircraft service to and from each rig in their field. The flotels have expanded recreational, housing, and landing facilities, and are often the site

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MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH TERRESTRIAL OIL FIELDS

SovOil's land-based oil fields cover tens of thousands of square miles. On any field, there can be hundreds of drilling derricks, and thousands of bobbing pumps working established wells. Unlike offshore fields, which are scattered pockets of frantic activity, land fields are usually thinly and evenly populated. Maintenance and construction crews circulate day and night, checking and repairing the pumps and pipelines, and working on drilling derricks. Each terrestrial field usually has a coordinating center, where all of die machinery and pipelines are monitored; where aircraft, vehicles, firefighters, troubleshooters, and Security Forces are based, and service and recreation facilities are concentrated. If there is no town nearby, the coordinating center will have barracks, apartments and recreation facilities. Security at terrestrial fields is mostly electronic. Most fields are far too large to be fenced, but virtually all derricks, pumps and pipelines have cameras and thermal sensors. As soon as unauthorized persons are detected, a security team can be scrambled by aircraft from die coordination center. SECURITY

An SU-441 on night approach to the Namyit service vessel in the Spratly Archipelago of offshore conferences and social events. SovOil Hotels have movie theaters, company brothels, bowling alleys, dance clubs, large libraries, and other diversions. They also have expanded maintenance facilities, and quick response troops that can be dispatched to any rig in die field. There is always at least one aircraft at each Hotel. MOST LAND-BASED FIELDS ARE TOO LARGE TO BE FENCED. THOUSANDS OF MILES ARE COVERED BY HUNDREDS OF DERRICKS AND BOBBING PUMPS.

MSVS

The counterpart to the Hotel is the Multi-Service Vessel. This is similar to the Hotel in construction, and there is usually one assigned to each field, but it is devoted completely to maintenance and security. MSVs have expanded diving, analysis, diagnostic, firefighting, and military capabilities, and can respond to any military or technical emergency at an offshore field. Like Hotels, there is always at least one aircraft on station, as well as minisubs, troops, and weapons. Troubleshooters working offshore shifts are stationed on MSVs. MSVs usually have between 75 and 200 crew on board.

FORCE BASES

SovOil's security forces are large enough to require several full-size military bases for training, equipment, troop housing, and command networks. SovOil has infantry and naval bases throughout the Soviet Union, as well as in Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Antarctica, and Cuba. Bases are commanded by SovOil flag rank officers. They serve as dispatch and coordination centers for forces assigned to that area of die world. Most of die bases can house die men and materiel for one or two complete Soviet divisions. (A Soviet division has about 10,000 men.) All have barracks, recreation centers, armories, vehicle pools, maintenance areas, command centers, communications centers, housing units, and airstrips. Naval bases also have boats and dockyards. There are secure areas for storing special weapons and heavy weapons, and training facilities for troops. Most bases are located near towns or areas of strategic importance. Although troops are trained at all Security Force Bases, there are four installations devoted to the indoctrination of new recruits. These are SovOil's largest bases, serving over 20,000 troops each. Teriberka Base, on the Barents Sea, and Vostochnyy Base, on the Sea of Japan, arc the two main naval bases. Camp Kadnikov, near St. Petersburg (Leningrad), and Camp Tauchik, near Shevchenko, are the main Infantry bases.

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CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: SOVIET WORLD OIL INDUSTRIES

COMPANY

DATA

COMPUTER SYSTEM AND DATA FORTRESSES

A B C D E F G H I

SOVOIL COMPUTERS SovOil uses computers designed and built by Sungan Industries, the enormous Korean combine. Sungan computers are speedy and reliable, although perhaps not quite up to the superior standards of Microtech, EBM, and Nippon Electric machines. SovOil is Sungan's major supplier of raw materials, and the computers are part of the two corporations' trade package. The mainframe units used by the SovOil headquarters are S-101 Research Models, a type common around the world. Three units combine to make up the Headquarters computer system and database. Peripheral memory units and processors increase the data storage and management capacity. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

SovOil has various other systems at its regional offices, including the popular Microtech SARTA™ and EBM Series 11000 units, but these computers are used for special engineering and processing duties for which the Sungan mainframes are ill-suited. Sungan units handle the majority of database, datafortress, communication and coordination tasks. SovOil's datafortress software is by Futayama Data Systems Inc. of Japan. Futayama designs state-of-the-art software, and datafortresses constructed with their software are always efficient and secure. In fact, the Futayama Software occasionally outstrips the abilities of the Sungan S-101 mainframes, and software engineers from the Japanese firm had to do a little modification work on the programs before the software and hardware mated smoothly. Some people expect SovOil to switch to Microtech SATAC™ computers in 2023, when it moves into its new headquarters. SovOil's Net interface was designed by Sungan Software, and it works well with both the Sungan mainframes and the Futayama datafortress software. SECURITY SovOil's computer security is good, but not as tight as at some other corporations. Some information, especially that concerned with oil research and projects, is extremely well-protected, but most experienced Netrunners consider the SovOil datafortress to be less of a challenge than those of many other corporations. SovOil uses a single fortress design, without any of the complex subfortresses or shifting geometry measures implemented by Petrochem. The fortress is compartmentalized inside, with cer-

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Security Camera Building Alarms Interior Doors Long Distance Links Flatline Security Camera Firestarter Video Boards Brainwipe Exterior Doors Printers Zombie Security Microphones Hydra Terminal Terminal Holo Displays Elevators Terminals Dec Krash Program Support Program Support Program Support Program Support Personnel Files Security Files Executive Files Work Files Data Base Data Base DataBase Data Base Watchdog

J K L M N O P Q R S

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

tain internal areas under higher security than others. Some subsections, such as the Security Forces Database and the Secret Police Database, can only be accessed from certain areas. SovOil is a liberal user of black and white ICE, especially in the sensitive subsections of the datafortress. The company has invested millions in top-notch anti-intrusion software, from prestigeous designers such as Arasaka and Skalderviken. There are usually live Netrunners patrolling the system as an extra security measure. Experienced freelance 'Runners know, however, that many Soviet decks are slower than the Japanese and European ones favored by data thieves. SIZE In keeping with the size of the corporation, SovOil's database is gigantic, with thousands of MU and many processors. Like many corporations with a distrust of AI's, SovOil takes measures to prevent the aggregation of processor power that can lead to the development of intelligence. The master database has only three main processors, and it uses peripheral processors and memory to drive non-central functions. Peripheral processors and memory do not contribute to AI formation, as their speed and communication with central processors is limited. There is only limited communication between mainframes at regional offices and the central computer in Moscow, and it is impossible for the processors to form the close, constant links necessary for AI development. REGIONAL DATAFORTRESSES SovOil's regional datafortresses are, generally, smaller versions of the headquarters system. They have a similar layout and processing power, and lack only the large storehouse of peripheral memory and processors. Look for concentrations of black ICE around sensitive subsections.

RESOURCES AND CORPORATE VALUE IN 2020 C Magazines ratings are based on the value of the assets and holdings of the corporation, rather than the value of the combined stock. Combined stock value would be the price to actually buy control of the corporation and its assets. Example: Arasaka has a rated C Magazine index value of 475 billion eb, but its 560 million shares of common stock are worth 130eb each, or a total of about 73 billion dollars. Thus, if stock prices were to suddenly freeze, you could buy the corporation for 73 billion eb. In reality, the more stock you bought, the higher the price of the remaining stock would rise, until a controlling share had been seized. Experts

have theorized that Arasaka has a real sale, or 'complete takeover' value of 150 to 200 billion dollars. To make a rough estimate of the complete takeover value of other corporations, multiply the number of common shares by the current price, and double the result. A 51% controlling share of the stock can be had for about 70% of the complete takeover price. Of course, most corporations strictly (and illegally) monitor the sale and ownership of major blocks of their stock. Virtually all make sure that a controlling share is held by a group of loyal individuals who will not sell under any conditions. VALUE OF THE CORPORATION SovOil is currently worth 400 billion dollars, making it the seventh largest corporation in the C Magazine top ten index. SovOil's ranking is interesting, however, as the corporation has far fewer developed holdings and subsidiaries than many of the other top ten corporations. Most of SovOil's wealth comes from the abstract, projected value of its known and potential oil reserves. If SovOil was to suddenly be stripped of all of its oil holdings, its CHOOH2, manufacturing, and other subsidiaries and properties would amount to about 200 billion in gross worth. The breakdown of SovOil's 400 billion eb value is as follows: 200 billion is oil reserves at projected prices; 80 billion is CHOOH2 holdings and sales, 25 billion is subsidiaries; 68 billion is real estate, manufacturing, military, and other durable holdings; 15 billion is investments, loans and cash reserves; 12 billion is miscellaneous holdings. SovOil's directors know that the value from the oil reserves will expire someday, so the income being generated from them is being directed into the expansion of the corporation's subsidiary, investment, and durable holdings. The company hopes to be worth at least 300 to 350 billion in those areas when the oil runs out.

STOCK SovOil is represented by 410 million shares of common stock. Prices have fluctuated as result of oil speculation and exploration, and the corporation's military situation, but the price generally centers around 118 eb per share, with annual fluctuations of ±5 to 15eb. The general trend has been upward since the end of the Second Corporate war. Of SovOil's controlling stock, 8% is held by the Novikovo family's SovOil Investments Inc., under the control of Neonila Novikovo. The other inner board members hold average shares of about 1%, with individual holdings ranging from .2% to 5%. The inner board accounts for about 20% of the company's stock. The outer board of 100 individuals accounts for another 10%, with average holdings of .1%. Another 10% of the company's stock is held in trust by subsidiaries in cross-ownership programs. 8O

CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: SOVIET WORLD OIL. INDUSTRIES

CORPORATE VEHICLE DIRECT ACCESS

PETROCHEM SovOil

Note: SovOil can draw, in some categories, on Soviet Republican resources

The remaining 60% trades openly. SovOil keeps cash reserves available to buy up the 11 % necessary to retain a controlling share under any circumstances. This protects the corporation against hostile takeover, or disruption by enemies. RESOURCES: MANPOWER

SovOil employs about a million people, a great number for its size. SovOil can afford this number largely because labor is extremely cheap in the Soviet Union, even under the Eurobuck. Of SovOil's million employees, one hundred thousand are Infantry soldiers, fifty thousand are Infantry guards, one hundred thousand are Naval troops, and fifty thousand are special forces, spies, and Secret Police agents. One hundred and fifty thousand employees work offshore installations, one hundred and fifty thousand work terrestrial fields and pipelines, and fifty thousand have specialized technical jobs. The remainder work in factories, subsidiaries, and in offices around the world. RESOURCES: HARDWARE

SovOil's hardware resources have never been accurately counted. The company probably owns more vehicles and ships than any other corporation on earth. It has fifteen submarine tankers, forty surface tankers and freighters of capital size, and

hundreds of smaller freight, service, and naval vessels. The corporation also has thirty Tupolev Tu-80 transport aircraft (the Soviet counterpart to the American C-25). Additional resources include 1000 offshore platforms, twenty flotels and eighteen MSVs. Anything beyond these numbers, such as small aircraft and armored vehicles, is pure conjecture. SUBSIDIARIES

SovOil has fewer actual subsidiaries than many other large corporations, although it has several divisions and subdivisions. The following are many of SovOil's (SMKP's) divisions and subsidiaries, under their Soviet Initials. Subdivisions are in parentheses. SMKP Oil (Offshore and Onshore); SMKP Oil Technologies; SMKP Pipeline Technologies; SMKP Shipping and Oil Transport Industries; SMKP CHOOH2 (Technology, Fermenting); KereSov Fuel Retailing; SMKP Heavy Industries (Steel, Shipbuilding, Construction); SMKP Power Utilities; Troubleshooters International; SMKP Heavy Industries; SMKP Mining Industries; SMKP Manufacturing; Schwann-Auerbach Engineering; SMKP Geological Services; SMKP Ballistics; SMKP Research and Development; SMKP Petroleum Refining; SMKP Petrochemical (Synthetics, Pharmaceuticals); SMKP Investments and Financial Services. 81

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

MONKEY IN THE MIDDLE: A SOVOIL/ PETROCHEM ADVENTURE INTRODUCTION In this adventure the characters stumble into an espionage deal gone bad, and get caught between SovOil and Petrochem; two very large, very mean corporations. It will take good decisions and quick thinking if they are to get out alive. If they play their cards right, they can turn a big profit. This adventure can be run with any number and type of characters, but it is intended for characters who are not SovOil employees. Since most referees will likely use SovOil as a foil for players, that is how the adventure is designed. PART ONE: THE DROP As the adventure begins, the characters are all enjoying an evening at their favorite club or bar. So far, it has been an uneventful evening, with a typical assortment of fights, melees, and brawls. Cyberpunkers are used to having to pick out unfamiliar faces in a crowd. In 2020, you never know who's gonna pull out a gun and start laying waste to everything in sight, and it pays to have a keen eye. That's why, if they make Awareness/Notice roils > 15, the characters will notice an unfamiliar man entering the club. He is tail, with dark hair and round glasses. The man is wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, and is obviously out of his clement in the 'Punker club. He looks nervous. The man will approach the player characters, and ask if there is a rear exit from the club. All characters will hear the man's thick accent, but only those making an Education and General Knowledge or INT roll > 15 will realize that it is Russian. As it happens, there is a rear exit from the club. If the characters point it out, the man will head for it rapidly. Unless the characters have an overwhelming sense of curiosity, they may think no more of the matter. Their curiosity may be peaked, however, when they hear two gunshots from the alley behind the club. Of course, people get blown away in Cyberpunk all the time, and they may consider it none of their business. At this point, the characters can stay in the club, or go into the alley.

GOING INTO THE ALLEY If the characters investigate the gunshots: They will find the tall man shot dead in the alley, his glasses shattered on the pavement. Two other men in dark suits are going through his pockets and his briefcase. They both have silenced pistols. The sound of the shots came from the unsilenced pistol clutched in the dead hand of die tall man. One of the mysterious men will pull a badge and ID out of his pocket, and speaking with the same accent as die tall man, tell die characters, "KeroSov Corporate internal business. Move along." At this point, two more men in dark suits will appear at the mouth of the alley, and come walking quickly towards the scene. They appear to be comrades of the two who killed the tall man. A dark limousine will block the mouth of the alley. Any characters making an Education and General Knowledge roll > 20 will realize that these men are the serious-repped SovOil Secret Police. If the characters fight the SovOil men: If the characters decide to stick around, the SovOil men will point their weapons at them and tell them, once again, to push off. If the characters still don't leave, they will fire. If the characters attack, the SovOil men will fight back. The two who confronted the characters have Arasaka pistols, die two coming down the alley have Minami submachineguns hidden under their jackets. The one in the limousine also has a Minami. If the fight goes badly for the SovOil men, the limousine will take off. The limousine is armored to SP 20, with SP 15 windows. See Key People for SovOil Secret Police stats. STAYING IN THE CLUB If the characters ignore the gunshots, and stay in the club, die trouble may come to them. Four men in dark suits will come into the club. They will speak briefly to the bartender, who will gesture toward die characters. Two of die four men will start searching die club, checking the floor and waste baskets. The other two will move over to the characters' table and ask, in Russian accents, if the characters spoke to a tall man with round glasses and a brown suit. The man they are describing is the man who asked the characters if the club had a rear entrance. The darksuited agents will also ask die characters if they saw die tall man drop anything, or hand something to anyone else in the club (the characters didn't). If die characters ask, the dark-suited men will identify themselves as representatives of SovOil, on company business. They will produce SovOil ID cards if necessary. Characters making an Education and General Knowledge roll > 20 will realize that the men may very well be the dangerous SovOil Secret Police. Characters making an Awareness/Notice roll > 22 will notice that one of the men has spots and streaks of fresh blood on his hand and cuff.

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CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: SOVIET WORLD OIL INDUSTRIES

If the characters are cooperative: If the characters say that they only told the tall man where the rear exit was, and didn't see him drop or pass anything, the SovOil men will appear skeptical but not cause the characters any more trouble. If the characters are uncooperative: If the characters get tough with the secret policemen, a fight may break out as the SovOil agents accuse them of lying. The Secret Policemen will fight well, but will flee if they feel seriously outclassed. See above for their weapons. Their limousine will be waiting out front. If any of the Secret Policemen are captured and questioned, they will not talk. They will repeatedly threaten the characters for interfering with SovOil company business. A Hint: The characters may realize that something important enough for the SovOil agents to kill for and search for might be worth a great deal of money. Also, the characters almost certainly don't take kindly to a pack of anonymous suits poking their noses into their club. PART Two: FILTHY'S FIND

If the characters check the alley after the confrontation, they will find no body. They will find a large puddle of fresh blood, several 10mm shell casings, and a pair of broken glasses that look very much like the ones that were being worn by the tall man. A LUCKY BREAK The characters may consider the entire incident behind them, but a wild card has tipped the turn of events. That wild card is a ratty, smelly vagrant named Filthy. Filthy is something of a fixture in the combat zone. He is a wasted, hopeless, penniless Smash addict with a low wattage brain. Filthy is widely tolerated, however, because of his special talent. He has a gift for being in the right place at the right time, and overhearing important conversations, witnessing events, and finding objects of value to other people. He is a regular street informant for many of the cyberpunkers operating in or near the Combat Zone. Unfortunately, Filthy's gifts do not extend to negotiating, and he often parts with his finds for no more than the price of a six-pack of Smash. Naturally, he also comes up with a fair share of duds. Shortly after the SovOil men have left, Filthy will sidle over to the characters table. He saw the dark-suited men speaking with the characters (or noticed that the characters investigated the shots in the alley), and he has something that he thinks the characters might be interested in. Filthy says with his trademark lack of articulation, "Saw ya speakin' to those guys...those guys what shot the other guy. Was they lookin' for somethin'? They was I bet!" At this point, Filthy will wait to see what the characters say, although he will continue regardless. "I know what they was lookin' for. They

was lookin' for a disk." Of course, this is not news to the characters, if they have spoken to the SovOil men, and they may say as much. They will be surprised, however, when Filthy says, "I got it. I got the disk. I saw the tall guy throw it in the garbage. I got it out when all those guys were out back. No one else saw...just me! Wanna buy it?" If the characters buy the disk: Filthy wants 20eb. He can be bargained down to ten. The characters should be reminded that Filthy can be a good source, and they shouldn't rough him up or con him if they want him to stay useful. If the characters don't buy the disk Start improvising. As written, the adventure depends upon the characters coming into possession of the disk. Remind the characters that it may be worth a lot of money to someone, considering the effort SovOil was willing to put into recovering it. Of course it will be dangerous to hold on to, but when is Cyberpunk safe? Any opportunistic team of cyberpunkers worth its salt will be interested in the disk. A hint: If the characters left the club for some reason, perhaps to pursue the SovOil men after a battle, then Filthy can easily catch up with them afterward. He can be convinced that the characters are interested in the disk because he saw them talking to the SovOil men in the club, or because he saw them fighting the SovOil men or checking the scene of the murder in the alley. Depending on the situation, he may raise the price of the disk a few eb. THE DISK The next step for the characters will be finding out what is on the disk. The disk is unmarked, so the characters will have to have it read on a computer. Anyone with a computer and an Interface, Programming, or Expert Computers/Computer Tech skill will be able to access the information on the disk with an applicable skill roll> 15. There is a hitch. The information on the disk is in Russian(l), complete with Cyrillic characters. The characters will have to locate someone who speaks Russian, or find a Russian +3 MRAM chip (available anywhere fine chipware is sold). Once the Russian language problem has been solved, the characters will get an idea of what is on the disk. • The disk was initialized on a Sungan 101 mainframe computer at SovOil's Night City office at 01:31:55 (1:35 AM) the previous night. The log-on/init stamp shows that sensitive information was accessed by generic code from an open terminal, but written on a disk-drive belonging to SEVERNOYE S.I. (S. I. Severnoye). There is no record of who accessed the information. 83

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH FlLMORE "FILTHY" WEST (VAGRANT)

A tall, decrepit, bony man, with ragged hair, and scraggly stubble. He wears torn, stained, cast-off clothing, and caries a small bag that holds all of his worldly possessions. The smell of stale Smash follows him around. There are rumors that Filthy was an important cop or investigator once, before he drank himself into oblivion. Filthy has no memory of his real name or past life. He barely remembers yesterday. STATS: INT 3, REF 5, TECH 3, COOL 6, ATTR 3, LUCK 10, MA 8, BODY 5, EMP 10/9, SAVE 5, BTM-2.

Note: The Netrunner will need a Russian language MRAM chip or interface translation program to read the information. Unlike other foreign corporations, which have US databases in English, SovOil's is entirely in Russian. Use the SovOil sample datafortress. PART THREE: DECISIONS

Now that the characters have the disk, there are several things they can try to do. • Sell the information to someone, perhaps Petrochem, for a profit. • Return the information to SovOil, perhaps in return for a reward.

SKILLS: Street Survival 8, Streetwise 7, Human Perception 5, Persuasion and Fast Talk 4, Awareness/Notice 10, Expert Eavesdropper 8, Hide/Evade 7, Brawling 2, Melee 1.

• Sell the information to a fixer for less money, but, perhaps, less risk. • Forget they ever found, heard, or saw anything.

CYBERWARE:A decrepit left cyberarm that doesn't work right any more (1/2 strength, low finger mobility). GEAR: None. • The disk contains a variety of information, including product movement schedules, troop and security rotations, and most critically, results of new geological oil surveys in Antarctica. That information could be worth a great deal to a SovOil competitor. Petrochem, in particular, should come to mind. SovOil will also be very interested in keeping this information secure. S. I.

If the characters try to sell the disk: The most likely customer would be Petrochem. Everyone knows that SovOil and Petrochem are bitter enemies, and espionage between the two is big business. The characters can contact a Petrochem corp themselves, or they can have a Fixer do the legwork. Either way, they will be put in touch with Gilbert Braham, Petrochem's Director of Information Services (i.e. spymaster) at the Night City office. Gil Braham will tell the characters that he is interested in setting up a meeting. He will let the characters name a place and time. If the characters are at a loss, Braham will suggest they meet at Nero's, a downtown club, at eight PM the coming evening. Braham is batting around a number in the ten thousand eb range.

SEVERNOYE

If the characters call the SovOil public information line, they will be told that there was an Executive by the name of Sasha Ivanovich Severnoye at the Night City office, but he was transferred back to the USSR that morning. No address or number is available, but any messages will be forwarded. If the characters have a Netrunner take a poke around SovOil's Night City database, they will uncover a different story entirely. There is a classified personnel file for Sasha Severnoye. The photo for Severnoye matches the tall man who was killed behind the club. He is listed as a middle level executive. There are several recent additions to the file. 1) A Secret Police memo suspecting Severnoye of espionage crimes against the corporation. 2) A large flag on the file that says DECEASED, followed by the time and date of the gunfight behind the club. 3) A memo which says that the body has been shipped back to Russia.

If the characters try to sell the disk to a third party other than Petrochem, they will have no trouble finding a fixer who is interested. If the characters don't have a fixer that they deal with regularly, use Jon Waddel, below. He will be recommended to the characters as a fixer with good corporate connections. A sale can be set up at any location of the referee's choosing, or use Chloe's or Nero's. If the characters try to return the disk: The characters might call SovOil and tell the corporation that they have their missing data. Once the character mention what they have, they will be connected with a man named Dmitri Yablonov. Yablonov will identify himself as an executive, but he is really a Secret Police commander. Yablonov will suggest a meeting at Chloe's, an open air cafe in the Charter Hill area at noon the following day. Yablonov won't give the characters a number, but he does say that they will be rewarded for returning the disk. He will warn the characters not to copy the disk. 84

CORPORATE REPORT 2O2O: SOVIET WORLD OIL. INDUSTRIES

PART FOUR: A HEAP OF TROUBLE By now, if they have any interest in turning a profit with the disk, the characters will have arranged a meeting with SovOil, Petrochem, or a third party. What the characters may not know is that whichever organization they have snubbed has not given up on trying to retrieve the disk. Both SovOil and Petrochem have been working behind the scenes with spies and Netrunners. If the characters made a deal with SovOil: Petrochem spies have been active in the SovOil corporation. They have been on the alert ever since their mole in SovOil Night City (the tall man) was flushed and killed. They know that SovOil has not recovered the disk, and they have been keeping their ears open, listening for any clue that SovOil has uncovered a lead or set up a deal. They have been paying special attention to the characters, as the agent who was to get the disk from the tall man saw them:

JON "J.J." WADDEL. (FIXER)

If the characters need a fixer, they will be referred to J .J. Waddel. Waddel has good corporate connections, and reputation for successful deals. Waddel will demand 20 points (20% of the deal), but he can be bargained down to 15 points if the characters are slick. Payment required only if the deal is successful.

STATS: INT 9, REF 10, TECH 5, COOL 10, ATTR 8, LUCK 4, MA 7, BODY 8, EMP 7/5, SAVE 8, BTM-3. SKILLS: Streetdeal 8, Wardrobe and Style 5, Human Perception 6, Streetwise 6, Awareness/Notice 5, Hide/Evade 4, Shadow/Track 6, Brawling 6, Melee 4, Handgun 5, Submachinegun 2, Rifle 2, Motorcycle 6, Driving 4.

A) Butting-in out in the alley behind the club, or B)

Speaking to the SovOil Secret Police in die club.

The agent did not see the characters buy die disk from Filthy, but any lead is better than no lead. Now Petrochem's spies have learned of the deal between the characters and SovOil, and they are going to try to prevent it. Sec The Deal Goes Down, below. If the characters made a deal with Petrochem: SovOil has been suspicious of the characters ever since: A) The characters butted-in out in the alley behind the bar, or B) The Secret Police were told by the bartender that the tall man spoke to them. SovOil had no proof that the characters had the disk, but it has suspected that they may have come across it. The company has not been able to track down the characters, but it has counted on them trying to sell the disk once they discovered what was on it. That suspicion has payed off, as SovOil Secret Police agents and Netrunners have learned of the meeting between the characters and Gil Braham of Petrochem. They will take steps to see that the disk does not fall into Petrochem hands. See The Deal Goes Down, Below. If the characters made a deal with a third party: As above, SovOil has been suspicious of the characters ever since: A) The characters butted-in out in the alley behind the bar, or B) The Secret Police were told by the bartender that the tall man spoke to them.

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CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Chipware Socket, Interface Plugs, Smartgun Link, Data Term Link, Rippers, Basic Cyberoptic, Times Square Marquee, Image Enhancement, Low Lite™, Teleoptics. GEAR: SP 18 armor jacket, Sternmeyer Type 35 with three magazines in a shoulder holster. GILBERT BRAHAM (CORP) Gil Braham is a typical, doubledealing corporate looking out for n u m b e r one. He's out to nail down the score that will assure his rise in the Petrochem hierarchy.

STATS:

INT 7, REF 8, TECH 6, COOL 10, ATTR 10, LUCK 5, MA 8, BODY 7, EMP 7/5, SAVE 7, BTM-2.

SKILLS: Resources 6, Personal Grooming 5, Wardrobe and Style 5, Seduction 6, Social 4, Persuasion and Fast Talk 5, Awareness/Notice 6, Expert Manager 6, Expert Petrochem 5, Judo 5, Handgun 4, Driving 6. CYBERWARE: Basic Processor, Smartgun Link, Data Term Link, Chipware Socket, Mr Studd™, Skinweave, Basic Cyberoptic, Times Square Marquee, Low Lite™, Dartgun.

MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

GEAR: SP 14 armor jacket, Militech Arms Avenger pistol in shoulder holster, with three magazines. DMITRI YABLONOV (CORP)

SovOil has been keeping discreet tabs on the characters ever since that incident, trying to find out if they have the disk. Now SovOil agents have learned that the characters not only have the disk, but they are going to sell it to someone else. That can not be permitted to happen. If the characters will not deal with SovOil, then they must be attacked so that the disk can be retrieved or destroyed. SovOil Secret Police agents will handle the mission. THE DEAL GOES DOWN...

Tough and smart, Yablonov is a wily veteran of the SovOil Secret Police. He has been the Night City Director for some time. He is participating directly in this case because of its importance to the corporation.

STATS: INT 10, REF 7, TECH 6, COOL 10, ATTR 5, LUCK 6, MA 6, BODY 6, EMP 8/5, SAVE 6, BTM-2. SKILLS:

Resources 6, Interrogation 7, Intimidate 6, Leadership 4, Persuasion and Fast Talk 7, Awareness/Notice 7, Education and General Knowledge 7, Expert SovOil Corporation 6, Expert Espionage and Political Intrigue 8, Expert Manager 7, Expert Investigator 5 Russian (Native), English 6, Handgun 6, Driving 5, Electronic Security 6.

CYBERWARE: Basic Processor,'Smartgun Link, Data Term Link, Basic Cyberoptic, Image enhancement, Low Lite™, MicroVideo Optic, Basic Cyberaudio, A m p l i f i e d h e a r i n g , Radio L i n k , Scrambler, Bug Detector, Voice Stress Analyzer, Sound Editing, Wide Band Radio Scanner, Micro-recorder Link. GEAR: SP 18 bulletproof vest worn under clothing and long-coat. Arasaka WSA (P 0 J C 2D6+ 3 (10mm) 15 2 VR) pistol with four magazines, in shoulder holster.

...With SovOil: The meeting is set for Chloe's cafe, in Charter Hill. The characters will get there without incident. Dmitri Yablonov arrived half an hour early, so if the characters are there earlier than that, they will see him arrive. Otherwise, they will find him at one of the outside tables (there are no inside ones). If the characters specified that he be alone, there will be no other obvious SovOil personnel visible. Otherwise, there will be two other agents with him. Have the characters make Awareness/Notice rolls vs. SovOil Secret Police Performance rolls. The characters will take a -2. If the characters win, they may notice that some of the other clients are keeping a very close eye on the meeting. If the characters mention this to Yablonov, he will say that they are extra security. If Yablonov was supposed to be alone, he will apologize, but tell the characters that he can't afford to be unprotected in this circumstance. Yablonov will have a total of five other men and women with him. Change this number to conform to your team's strength if necessary. Yablonov will have several thousand eb on him. One of his people will have extra money. Yablonov will pay the characters, and is not planning any duplicity. He will warn the characters that, if he learns they have copied the disk, he will find them and kill them. Yablonov will check the disk on a portable deck before paying. Before the deal is finalized, have the characters and the SovOil men make Awareness/Notice rolls vs. Petrochem Special Ops Shadow/Track, all at -2 (see Petrochem Key People, and Uniforms, Equipment and Personnel for stats and weapons). Have the SovOil agents make a group roll. If the characters or SovOil people succeed, they will notice that several people are converging on the patio cafe from different directions. They look suspiciously similar, and dangerous. The eight (change the number as needed) approaching individuals will pull submachineguns out from briefcases and from under jackets, and attack the characters and any obvious SovOil personnel. They are Petrochem Special Ops out to steal the disk. Even if the characters are taken by surprise, they will have a phase to react in while the Petrochem soldiers are drawing their weapons. See Possible Outcomes, below. ...With Petrochem: The characters were supposed to meet Gil Braham at Nero's club, downtown. SovOil will not wait for the characters to get to the meeting to attack As the characters are going to the meeting, have them make Awareness/Notice rolls vs. SovOil Secret 86

CORPORATE REPORT 2020: SOVIET WORLD OIL INDUSTRIES Police Shadow/Track rolls. If the characters succeed, they will notice that they are being shadowed by a brown van with dark windows. Although they don't know it yet, there are six armed SovOil men in the van. If the characters try to ditch the van, it will give chase, and die men inside will start firing. They are out to kill die characters and destroy die disk. If die characters lose die van, the agents will attack again at Nero's, and die characters will have to fight diem in die club. If die characters don't sec die van, they will notice it when it pulls along side diem at a stop light, and die men inside start firing through the window. (The SovOil men will use die van even if die characters are on foot.) The SovOil men have several fragmentation grenades, and they are willing to use diem if die characters are in a vehicle. The van is SP 15, SDP 75. See SovOil Key People and Uniforms, Equipment and Weapons for stats and weapons.

...WITH A THIRD PARTY: Treat it as making a deal with Petrochem. SovOil will use die van, and attempt to stop the characters and recover or destroy die disk. Referee's discretion as to whether die client is on die level. POSSIBLE OUTCOMES RETURNING THE DISK TO SovOil. • The characters anticipate or discover die Petrochem attack, and elude or defeat the Petrochem soldiers. The deal goes through, and the characters collect their reward (several thousand eb) from Dmitri Yablonov. The adventure is a success for die characters. • The characters are wiped out by Petrochem, or lose the disk to Petrochem soldiers. Perhaps Yablonov and the other SovOil men are killed in die attack. The adventure is catastrophe for the characters. SovOil may t h i n k the characters were in league with Petrochem, and try to take revenge.

If the characters repel the attack(s), they will find Gil Braham at Nero's. He will have the money for the disk. If the characters specified that he be alone, he will be. If not, he will have two men with him. He will pay the characters, check the disk on a portable deck, and leave.

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MERRILL, ASUKAGA & FINCH

SELLING THE DISK TO PETROCHEM OR ANOTHER CLIENT

OPTIONAL EPISODES • The characters may talk to both Petrochem and SovOil, and set up a bidding war. The risks will be higher, but so will the payoff if the characters succeed.

• The characters defeat or elude the SovOil agents on the road or at Nero's. They sell the disk to Gil Braham or someone else, and pocket several thousand dollars. • The characters are wiped out, or the disk is destroyed by SovOil's agents. The characters have nothing left to sell, even if they are still alive. Better luck next time.

• The characters may copy the disk and try to sell it to multiple clients. Beware! Yablonov will know if the characters try to sell him a copy. Also, if SovOil finds out that die characters have done this, die corporation will try to take revenge.

• The characters are doublecrossed by the third party. Perhaps they escape to try another deal, perhaps not.

• The characters keep the original, and try to sell a blank disk to a client. Bad idea, prepare for certain death.

CONCLUSION If the characters pulled off a successful deal, they can pat themselves on die back for being smooth operators, and go out to spend their hard earned money. If they fail, they have learned a lesson about megacorp espionage. They play hardball in the big leagues.

If die characters are extremely cocky, have die corporation they are dealing with doublecross them. Alternatively, if they are dealing with a third party, have both SovOil and Petrochem attack, possibly at the same time. The resultant fireworks should be impressive. •

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